How Scroll’s zkEVM is changing Ethereum Layer 2 competition

The TVL climb

Scroll’s total value locked surpassed $1 billion, rising from $435 million on June 15. This growth outpaced Base, which increased by 4%, and Linea, which saw a 3% rise. Blast experienced a 42% decline. I attribute this surge to the "Marks" points program. Users earn Marks by bridging assets or depositing into protocols like Ambient and Nuri. This strategy targets airdrop farmers.

The program moved into Session One on June 21. This phase awards Marks based on the formula "Marks = Value x Action x Time". I see this as a tactic to drive sustained engagement. While other networks like Base use "Onchain Summer" to earn points, Scroll’s approach remains focused on direct deposits. This is a smart way to build liquidity.

The growth happened fast.

The network attracts 50,000 daily active users and 6.5 million unique addresses. It has processed 112 million transactions since its October 2023 launch. Polychain Capital led funding rounds that brought the valuation to $1.8 billion. Before its mainnet launch, the team spent two years testing on the Goerli and Sepolia testnets. The Sepolia testnet alone saw over 900,000 wallet addresses and 6 million transactions.

Engineering and compatibility

Scroll uses a bytecode-compatible zkEVM. It uses the OpenVM prover, a RISC-V zkVM from Axiom. This upgrade reduces proving costs and latency. It also removes circuit capacity constraints. This architecture simplifies the auditing process.

The system relies on a hierarchical proof aggregation system. It uses chunk proofs for individual blocks and batch proofs for aggregated chunks. It then uses bundle proofs, converted to SNARK, for on-chain verification. I find the centralized sequencer and prover problematic because the protocol lacks an escape hatch mechanism to recover funds if the network goes offline, which introduces a significant trust assumption for users who rely on the network for their primary liquidity. This Euclid upgrade reduces costs.

The architecture uses three modules. These include the Sequencer, Coordinator, and Relayer.

I skip Linea.

Competitive standing

The ecosystem supports over 70 applications. Aave provides lending and borrowing with lower gas fees. Ether.fi settles transactions on Scroll with up to 8% cashback for its Cash Card. Nansen provides analytics for traders in the ecosystem. Pencils Protocol acts as a yield aggregator, and Nuri Exchange operates as a decentralized exchange.

Bridging remains a consideration for users. The native Scroll bridge uses a validity-proof mechanism. Across completes transfers in 2 seconds with $0.02 fees. The native bridge charges $0.16 in fees. You know that L2 activity depends on incentives.

I view Scroll as a pragmatic alternative to Linea. Linea targets mainstream wallet stack familiarity, while Scroll appeals to teams wanting a more ecosystem-native feel. I would skip Scroll if I needed deep liquidity. Arbitrum remains the default for DeFi power users.

Which developers will migrate next?

I watch the competition closely. While Arbitrum One maintains $13.8 billion in TVL and Base holds $11.2 billion, Scroll’s $2.1 billion makes it a growing force in the ZK rollup space.

The points program works.