Consensys’s Linea zkEVM Goes Public, Enabling Easy ERC20 Token Bridging

Today, Web3 software technology company Consensys, announced that its Layer-2 blockchain solution/zkEVM Linea has successfully completed its public launch.

This milestone comes after Linea’s mainnet went live at EthCC in Paris on July 11. In the first month of the mainnet’s launch, the L2 blockchain witnessed over 2.7 million transactions and $26 million worth of tokens bridged. 

Consensys claims that this record level of on-chain activity makes Linea the fastest-growing zkEVM.

As part of the public launch, global users and Third Party Bridge Partners can now connect and bridge ERC20 tokens to Linea Network. Linea accomplished this through the deployment of an ERC20 token bridge, supported by a canonical token list.

In celebration of this significant event, Linea partnered with MetaMask, Banxa, Circle, and Transak, offering early users a two-week window from Aug 17 – 31 with zero network and gateway fees. Utilizing MetaMask’s Buy crypto aggregator, users can now purchase USDC.e – USDC from Ethereum bridged to Linea using the network’s ERC20 token bridge.

One month since Linea’s mainnet launch, the network has seen over 150 partners deploy dApps, more than 100K weekly active users, and more than 2.7 million transactions. 

“Linea will be a “Type 2” zkEVM rollup; this means it is bytecode-compatible with the EVM and more compatible with existing dApps and tools than other existing scaling solutions,”  Declan Fox, Product Lead for Linea, told Metaverse Post. “The benefit of this is zero switching costs for dApps, greater decentralization through reduced vendor lock-in, and greater reuse of existing Ethereum components, such as Hyperledger Besu.”

The zkEVM claims that it is presently handling around 1.5 transactions per second, costing just 1/15th of Ethereum mainnet fees. It says that this cost will further decrease as it further reduces rollup expenses paid to Ethereum.

New use cases for Linea’s public release

Linea’s latest release has made a range of bluechip ERC20 tokens, including stablecoins, liquid staking ETH, and memecoins available on the network. This not only diversifies Linea’s token offerings but also opens doors to an array of scalable dApps spanning DeFi, gaming, identity, social networks, and NFTs.

Additionally, DApp users can now swap their preferred tokens, engage in lending and borrowing activities, and participate in NFT transactions, including in-game items. They can also leverage Account Abstraction to pay fees with dollar-backed tokens.

“One of the emerging building blocks of Linea is the growing Account Abstraction ecosystem, where our testnet saw unprecedented amounts of smart contract account use cases during the Linea Voyage,” Fox said.

The Linea Voyage marked a significant 9-week exploration of dApps that leveraged Linea’s scalability. A crucial aspect of the testnet — this initiative rigorously evaluated the network’s capabilities, aiding the team in identifying bottlenecks and making essential preparations for the mainnet launch.

In a bid to drive continuous innovation on Linea, Consensys also launched the Ecosystem Investment Alliance (EIA) – an investment consortium comprising more than 30 prominent venture capital firms. 

The strategic initiative aims to bolster builders by providing validated interest, dedicated capital, and a direct pathway to the network. Builders keen on leveraging these opportunities are invited to apply for the EIA through this link.