ZK Rollup
A rollup that submits a cryptographic validity proof with every batch of transactions instead of relying on a fraud-proof challenge window.
- glossary
A ZK rollup (also called a Zero-Knowledge Rollup or Validity Rollup) is a type of rollup that submits a cryptographic validity proof alongside every batch of transactions rather than assuming validity by default. Because the base chain verifies that proof on-chain, "there are no delays when moving funds from a ZK-rollup to Ethereum... because exit transactions are executed once the ZK-rollup contract verifies the validity proof"—unlike an optimistic rollup, which needs a multi-day fraud-proof challenge window before a withdrawal is final. ZK rollups bundle thousands of transactions per batch and post only minimal summary data to Ethereum, using proof systems such as zk-SNARKs or zk-STARKs. zkSync Era, Starknet, and Linea are prominent ZK rollups. The trade-off is computational: generating validity proofs is expensive, and full compatibility with Ethereum's virtual machine is technically harder to build than a fraud-proof system. For tokenized domains, a ZK rollup gives the fastest path to layer-1-final ownership transfers of any rollup design.
Related keywords
- zk rollup
- zero-knowledge rollup
- validity proof
- zk-snark
- zk-stark
- zksync
- starknet
Contributors
Namefi is a collective of engineers, designers, and operators who obsess over building tools that make managing your onchain domain names effortless.
Victor Zhou is a technology founder and standards editor focused on digital identity and trust. He founded Namefi, edits Ethereum Improvement Proposals, and previously led smart-contract architecture work at Google Labs.
His work sits at the intersection of naming, ownership, and the systems people use to establish identity online. That perspective makes him especially interested in the way names move between personal meaning, public recognition, and digital infrastructure.
For Namefi, Victor edits and writes about domains as durable digital identity: how names become ownable onchain assets, how tokenization changes custody and trust, and what naming can learn from the systems people use to establish identity online.