I've been harping on about privacy in crypto for quite some time, and it has been one of the things that I've been looking out for over the last couple of years... with privacy first blockchains, privacy L2s and privacy as a service on the ATOM/COSMOS ecosystems.

Now, don't get me wrong... there are many things that would benefit from the transparency of public blockchains, but we should NOT exist in a world where there is NO option for shielded and private transactions. After all, what you do is not for anyone else to know about.. and to be honest, very few people will have the hardcore operational security to keep their real life personas separate from their online lives. Privacy doesn't mean that everything is completely secret... often there are ways to release a window of viewing into transactions when required.

So, Ethereum is by far and away the biggest, most secure, and decentralised smart contract blockchain at the moment. However, everything on the main-net and most of the L2s (and sidechains) are completely transparent. That can be great for some applications... but it is horrific for most people!

This is where the newest batch of privacy first L2s come in... they solve the two problems of speed/scalability and privacy in one go. Love it!

Now, I've been meaning o try to try out the zkSync L2 for quite some time now, but real life got in the way and I missed trying out the testnet. But I'm making up for lost time seeing what the L2 mainnet and the V2 testnet have to offer.

First things first, you will need to sign a message to connect your Ethereum address to your zkSync "wallet". As always, just check these things that you are on the right website, and that the signature is just a signature and not a transaction!

After "logging in", you will need to fund your zkSync wallet with ETH. It is quite interesting that they offer a number of ways to do this, ranging from the regular Ethereum main-net deposits via smart contracts, to CEX deposits and EVEN credit cards! Of course, the credit cards and exchanges will need KYC/AML.

... I'm lazy, and chose to do the bridging from the Ethereum main-net. For this particular occasion, I tried two bridges... the first with the official zkSync bridge and the other with the ZigZag bridge. Thankfully, I managed to get lucky with a relatively low mainnet fee period... so, I think I managed both transactions with fee prices around of 25 gwei.

Once you have ETH or other tokens bridged over onto zkSync, you will need to do a once off signing to authorise transfers. As all the transactions are batched before being written on main-net, you will benefit from pretty low fees here!

Something that is quite interest is the ability to pay for fees in tokens and not just the ETH coin. I tried out some payments in USDT... it really feels weird to pay for fees in a stablecoin... I'm so habituated into paying for fees with ETH, even though it was possible to do otherwise until last year (I think that change came bundled with the burning mechanism).

So... what is there to do on the L2. Like my first exploration with zkmoney and Aztec, well... there isn't a great deal that you can do if you don't know people who are nerdy and like tossing private transactions back and forth (I think I need new friends...).

However, there was something really cool that I found.. I saw that ZigZag is also a DEX and not just a bridge... and so, I had some cool fun playing around on the DEX! Sigh... I haven't used an orderbook (non-AMM) DEX since... well, ages! 0x I think was the last time! It brought back some really fond memories from the past, when crypto was just hyper nerdy...

So, some flips back and forth... I was pretty happy with the speed, and the fees were kept low with the L2 bundling. What was interesting was that the fact that you could only have a single active order on a pair at a time.... and it would have an expiry of about 6 days. So, I figured I would just leave a cheeky offer before I stopped playing around! I mean, that order book is crazy thin... so, I'm hoping that someone will fat finger an order!

I can also be found cross-posting at:
Hive
Steem
Publish0x

Handy Crypto Tools

Ledger Nano S/X: Keep your crypto safe and offline with the leading hardware wallet provider. Not your keys, not your crypto!
Binance: My first choice of centralised exchange, featuring a wide variety of crypto and savings products.
Kucoin: My second choice in exchanges, many tokens listed here that you can't get on Binance!
FTX: Regulated US-based exchange with some pretty interesting and useful discounts on trading and withdrawal fees for FTT holders. Decent fiat on-ramp as well!
MXC: Listings of lots of interesting tokens that are usually only available on DEXs. Avoid high gas prices!
Huobi: One of the largest exchanges in the world, some very interesting listings and early access sales through Primelist.
Gate.io: If you are after some of the weirdest and strangest tokens, this is one of the easiest off-chain places to get them!
Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
Crypto.com: Mixed feelings, but they have the BEST looking VISA debit card in existence! Seriously, it is beautiful!
CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
Cointracking: Automated or manual tracking of crypto for accounting and taxation reports.
Stoic: A USD maximisation bot trading on Binance using long-term long strategies, powered by the AI/human system of Cindicator.
StakeDAO: Decentralised pooled staking of PoS assets.
Poloniex: One of the older regulated exchanges that has come into new ownership. I used to use it quite a lot, but have since stopped.
Bitfinex: Ahhh... another oldie, but a goodie exchange. Most noted for the close affiliation with USDT and the Basic "no-KYC" tier!