Quicknode

February 15, 2024 — 4 min read

Quicknode has partnered with Matter Labs’s zkSync to add support for its Hyperchains. The partnership aims to bring scalable and secure blockchain solutions to enterprises and institutions.

What are Hyperchains?

Hyperchains are zkEVM instances that run in parallel with the zkSync mainnet. They are a network of sovereign yet interconnected chains that can scale horizontally while also being completely private (zero-knowledge).

Technical pillars of Hyperchains

The building blocks essential to power these chains include:

1. Zero-knowledge proofs

The use of zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) in Hyperchains and zkSync ensures that transactions are verified without revealing any underlying data, maintaining privacy and security.

2. Hyperbridges

Hyperbridges facilitate interoperability in Hyperchains. They help assets on zkSync to be bridged and moved around Hyperchains easily, allowing for a more profound and free-flowing liquidity pool. Improved liquidity means better user experience and a lot of possibilities for dApps and protocols to operate across chains.

3. Modularity

Hyperchain’s architecture is inherently modular, enabling developers to customize the blockchains to suit specific use cases. Consensus algorithms, governance models, and data availability protocols are all configurable.

For instance, Hyperchains offers various options for data availability, including zkRollups, zkPorters, and Validium.

Developers can now choose between zkRollups, which ensures data integrity by posting transaction data on-chain, or zkPorters and Validium, which provide off-chain data hosting options for scalability and privacy.

Why Should Developers Build on Hyperchains?

Hyperchains offer a unique flexibility advantage for developers currently limited to general-purpose blockchains. The key benefits of building on Hyperchains are:

• Scalability: Hyperchains exponentially increase throughput using shared provers to aggregate transactions across parallel chains.

• Privacy: Zero-knowledge proofs reveal privacy in Hyperchains through Validium and self-hosted rollups.

• Interoperability: Hyperbridges enable trustless cross-chain transactions through ZKPs, securing data and value transfer between chains.

• Sovereignty: Developers can independently define each Hyperchain’s rules, enabling customization in governance.

• Flexibility & Customization: Modular architecture provides options like configurable data availability, consensus, and more to tailor chains to specific use cases.
  

What do Hyperchains mean to zkSync?

Pursuing zkSync’s vision of full mass blockchain adoption, Hyperchains offer:

• Distribution of transaction load, thereby reducing congestion on the zkSync mainnet.

• Hyperchains maintain the privacy of transactions and data.

• Unified liquidity is available to any chain built on zkSync.

• Versatile and hyper-specific applications can now be built on zkSync.

• Hyperchains make zkSync more attractive to enterprises and institutions.

Use cases of Hyperchains

Hyperchains are designed for versatility, thereby being able to cater to a variety of use cases, some of which include:

Enterprise use cases

Hyperchains running in validium mode provide inherent data privacy while allowing transactions to be auditable. This makes them suitable for enterprise use cases.

For example, Supply chain tracking, IT systems, or even digital healthcare.

Gaming

Gaming metaverses and virtual worlds can be built on Hyperchains to allow in-game asset ownership, trading, and interoperability. Hyperchains' speed and low latency mean smooth gameplay.

SportsFi

Sports teams can issue digital collectibles and assets for fans on Hyperchains. These can be made interoperable with fantasy leagues and other sports ecosystems.

Hyperchains and Quicknode: How to build?

Quicknode adding support to Hyperchains is a huge leap in the direction of modularity and scalability of blockchains. This partnership allows Quicknode clients to leverage top-tier ZK technology to build customized blockchain solutions ideal for enterprise needs.

Similarly, institutions and teams that wish to build on their own Hyperchains can leverage Quicknode's infrastructure and Custom Chains solutions. We offer access to easy-to-deploy components like scalable RPC, block explorer integration, analytics, testnets, and bridges. Hereby, Quicknode helps you launch and operate your to realize their ideas onchain rapidlyhigh-performance blockchain tailored to your application's specific needs.

The combination of Quicknode's infrastructure and the technical capabilities of Hyperchains lowers the barrier to blockchain adoption for enterprises.

Further, Quicknode's extensive suite of developer tools, modules, and service partner network helps bring blockchain applications to market more quickly and securely.

Learn more about zkSync and Hyperchains using the following resources:

• zkSync’s Hyperchain documentation

• Hyperchain guide

• zkSync Discord

• zkSync Developer GitHub