ZKsync, an Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution developed by Matter Labs, officially launched the Atlas upgrade to its ZK Stack on October 6, 2025.
This update is specifically designed to empower enterprises and institutions by enabling the creation of sovereign, high-performance blockchains that maintain privacy and control while seamlessly interoperating with global markets and Ethereum’s ecosystem.
As blockchain adoption accelerates—exemplified by BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized U.S. Treasury fund surpassing $1 billion in assets earlier this year—Atlas addresses key pain points like throughput bottlenecks, proof latency, and integration complexity, positioning ZKsync as a go-to infrastructure for tokenized assets, cross-border payments, and supply chain applications.
High-Performance Sequencer: A rebuilt, low-latency sequencer capable of sustaining 15,000–30,000 transactions per second (TPS), with load tests demonstrating peaks near 20,000 TPS. Handles real-time processing for global-scale operations, outperforming traditional systems like Visa avg. ~1,700 TPS by up to 10x.
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Airbender Proof System: A high-speed RISC-V-based zero-knowledge (ZK) prover delivering sub-second (1-second) finality for block proofs and cross-chain settlements. Enables near-instant confirmations while keeping proving costs as low as $0.0001 per transfer, reducing barriers for high-volume institutional use.
EVM Compatibility & VM Flexibility
Full Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) equivalence with support for multiple virtual machines, including built-in metrics, logs, and tracing for devnets/testnets. Allows enterprises to deploy Ethereum-compatible apps without rewrites, ensuring verifiable computation and easy integration with existing DeFi liquidity.
Sovereign Chain Architecture: Customizable, self-hosted chains that connect cryptographically to Ethereum and other ZK Chains via the ZKsync Gateway. Balances private sovereignty (e.g., for compliance-sensitive data) with public interoperability, ideal for banks, fintechs, and tokenized real-world assets.
These enhancements build on ZKsync’s core ZK-rollup technology, which uses cryptographic proofs to batch and verify transactions off-chain before settling on Ethereum, inheriting its security without relying on validators.
Atlas targets the shift toward on-chain finance, where enterprises need deterministic, verifiable systems for payments and settlements. For instance, it supports the growing tokenized asset market, projected to reach trillions in value, by enabling low-latency, high-assurance transfers.
Proving costs drop dramatically, making ZK proofs viable for everyday enterprise ops—think instant cross-border remittances or real-time stock oracles as demoed in ZKsync’s 4-hour sequencer load test streaming AAPL prices.
Chains built on Atlas can remain private yet settle in seconds across networks, fostering a “network of chains” rather than a single mega-chain. Enhanced tooling simplifies launching production-ready environments, aiding regulatory compliance and rapid prototyping.
Alex Gluchowski, CEO and co-founder of Matter Labs, emphasized: “ZKsync represents the foundation for a new era of financial infrastructure, one where enterprises and institutions can operate onchain with the same sovereignty and flexibility they expect from their internal systems, but with incorruptible guarantees enforced by cryptography.”
ZKsync’s announcement post garnered over 1,400 likes and 680,000 views, highlighting the upgrade’s real-time capabilities. Ethereum’s official account praised it as a “big leap for scalability and UX,” noting how L2 advancements like Atlas enable millions of transactions verifiable on low-powered devices.
Developers and projects like SANDchain celebrated its implications for creator economies and DeFi, with one user calling it a “paradigm shift” for Ethereum’s scaling without compromise. Early speculation ties the upgrade to potential upside for ZK token price, targeting $0.10–$1 amid increased on-chain activity.
While Matter Labs notes the sequencer isn’t fully optimized yet with more improvements planned, Atlas marks a substantive step toward institutional-grade ZK infrastructure. This upgrade underscores ZKsync’s momentum in 2025, following its April security resolution and ecosystem expansions.