ZK

ZKsync · General-purpose L2

23 /100

T4Speculative · #52 of 77

No engine yetStableReviewed Oct 23, 2026

DemandSoundnessDurability

3 of 4516 of 404 of 15

Key facts

SupplyFloat 52% of issued supply

Circulating 11.02B, 52%
Locked or unvested 9.98B, 48%
Max 21.00B

FDV / market cap

1.9x

$267.1M / $140.2M

Market cap

$140.2M

Price $0.013, 7d −22.7%

Market data: CoinGecko, Oct 24, 2026. Scores reviewed Oct 23, 2026.

Assessment

ZKsync has no value engine: Era gas is paid in ETH, fees run ~$1.1K a day, and the ZKnomics buyback and staking plan approved Nov 2025 has routed nothing. Supply is the sound axis: 15.4B of the 21B cap is minted through capped vesting minters, and anything beyond needs token governance. Float is 52%, ~173M ZK a month of team and investor unlocks run to Jun 2028 plus 67M a month to Matter Labs, and insiders received ~82% with no public sale. Era sits at Stage 0 with no exit window: Matter Labs runs the sequencer and proposer, and emergency upgrades skip delays.

How value reaches holders

None live. ZKnomics (revenue-funded buyback/staking) approved Nov 2025; the staking pilot closed Q2 2026 with ~350M ZK staked but no fee activation or routing was operationalized. Era fees ~$1.1K/day. Team + investor unlocks ~173M ZK/month (~1.7% of float) to Jun 2028, plus 67M ZK/month for 12 months to Matter Labs via DAO minters

Score anatomy

Demand

3 / 45: the stronger of two routes, plus adoption

Why would anyone hold it: does value reach the token, and is the network or product used today?

Holder routing engine input

Approved or designed but inert, indirect sinks only, or flows into a treasury or endowment

How this is scored

Revenue reality engine input

Under $0.5M/yr, or emissions-subsidized only

How this is scored

Monetary usage engine input

Not native gas (ZKsync Era gas is ETH); no material collateral use.

Trading onlyhigh confidenceHow this is scored

Adoption ×3

ZKsync Era fees $0.46M TTM (-61%), TVL $0.01B (-65%) and stablecoins -40% YoY: down 60%+

Marginal or fading: negligible use for its size, usage down 60%+ year on year, or a lost forkhigh confidenceHow this is scored

Two routes, the stronger counts

Revenue 0, minus 4 for routing 1 = cash flow 0. Money use 0. The engine is the stronger route: 0.

Soundness

16 / 40

Can a long-term holder trust the rules: supply, float, distribution and control?

Supply discipline ×3

15.4B of the 21B cap minted through capped vesting minters; new supply beyond that needs ZK token governance. The Emergency Upgrade Board path (Security Council, Guardians and Foundation together) is scored under security.

Under 1%/yr net without a hard cap, a hard cap with halvings issuing 1-3%/yr, or zero issuance where binding on-chain token governance could vote to mint moremedium confidenceHow this is scored

Float and unlocks ×1

Float 52% (11.0B of 21B); team and investor unlocks of ~173M ZK a month plus 67M a month to Matter Labs (~2.2% of float) run to Jun 2028.

1.5-3% of float unlocking per monthhigh confidenceHow this is scored

Distribution ×2

Investors 17.2%, Matter Labs team 16.1%, ZKsync Association 29.3%, ecosystem initiatives 19.9%: ~82%; airdrop 17.5%; no public sale

Insiders received over 50%, or one organization directs over 30% todayhigh confidenceHow this is scored

Decentralization and security ×2

ZKsync Era is Stage 0 on L2BEAT with no exit window: Matter Labs runs the sequencer and proposer, users can only enqueue via L1 and cannot self-propose, and emergency upgrades skip delays

A halt, rollback or exploited consensus bug in the last 24 months, attack cost under $10M, or a foundation-selected validator set or small multisig can halt or upgrade with no meaningful exit windowmedium confidenceHow this is scored

Durability

4 / 15

Is it big, proven and reachable by institutions?

Scale ×1

$139.9M market cap (band 2), $12.8M/day median volume (band 3), no flags.

Small: $50-250M market cap and $1M/day+How this is scored

Track record ×1

Launched Jun 17, 2024: 2.35 years old.

1-3 yearshigh confidenceHow this is scored

Institutional access ×1

Spot on Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Bybit and Upbit; no ETP or US filing found.

Top-tier exchanges only, or delisting pressuremedium confidenceHow this is scored

What would move it up

To reach T3 Mixed, 3 gates are still open:

Score 23needs 40(open)
Value engine 0needs 2(open)
Adoption 1needs 2(open)
Supply 4gate 1(met)

Tier outlook

Stable

Engine needs ZKnomics routing live on revenue above $0.5M/yr; Era fees run ~$1.1K a day
Overhang: ~173M ZK a month of team and investor unlocks through Jun 2028, plus 67M a month to Matter Labs
Security rises to 2 if Era reaches L2BEAT Stage 1 with a user exit path and delayed upgrades
Materiality: Matter Labs' Prividium pivot and any statement on the token's role

Research report

Sep 17, 2026 · source confidence 65%

A general-purpose L2 token entering the third year of a linear unlock: team and investor tranches release about 173M ZK a month through June 2028, about 1.7% of float, alongside a DAO-approved 67M a month to Matter Labs. The ZKnomics framework for revenue-funded buybacks and staking was approved in November 2025, but the Q2 2026 report confirms no fee routing has been operationalized, and Era itself generates roughly $1K a day in fees. In June 2026 Matter Labs reduced headcount and committed the company to Prividium, its permissioned institutional product, whose revenue accrues to the company rather than the token. Airbender, its zkVM, has been adopted by two Ethereum clients and is listed on the Ethereum Foundation proving leaderboard, though not currently as an eligible real-time prover.

Structure (10 facts)

Chain: zksync-era (native); Ethereum L1 representation 0x66a5cfb2e9c529f14fe6364ad1075df3a649c0a5
What it is: governance token of the ZKsync Era L2 and Elastic Network; L2BEAT Stage 0, TVS ~$226M
Max supply: 21,000,000,000
Circulating supply (approx): 10,370,000,000
Market cap (approx): $103,000,000
Unlocks: team + investors 36-month linear Jun 2025 to Jun 2028, ~173M ZK/month (~1.7% of float), ~3.6B still to come; plus DAO-approved 67M ZK/month for 12 months to Matter Labs via minters (Q2 2026)
Value accrual: None live. ZKnomics (buyback/staking from revenue) approved Nov 2025; staking pilot closed Q2 2026 with ~350M ZK staked but no fee activation or routing operationalized. Prividium (Cari Network 30+ US banks, Bundesbank testing) is Matter Labs service revenue, not token revenue
Usage: Era fees ~$1.1k/day, ~26.8K tx/day, ~3.9K daily active addresses. Lite deprecated May 4 2026; Sophon left the Elastic Network for Base Jun 26 2026
Team status: Matter Labs laid off staff Jun 16-17 2026 and committed the company to Prividium; no statement on the token. Airbender zkVM adopted by ethrex and Erigon, on ethproofs but not currently eligible
Liquidity: ~$8M/day

Market figures at report date (Sep 17, 2026)

Price (approx): $0.0099
FDV (approx): $208,000,000
All-time high / low: ~0.32 (2024-06); ATL 0.00712 (2026-08-14)

Sources (6)

Compare with

How the ranking works and how ZK compares: see the full ranking. This entry as JSON:

GET https://tokens.10102.io/api/v1/tokenomics?symbol=ZK