TL;DR
- zkSync Lite will cease operations in 2026 as all development shifts to zkSync Era and the ZK Stack chains, marking the end of the first ZK rollup phase.
- The transition confirms that the experiment has served its purpose and that the ecosystem is moving toward full-featured platforms capable of running real-world applications.
- The Elastic Network and institutional adoption consolidate Era as the foundation for future projects, leaving Lite as a system to be phased out.
zkSync Lite will stop operating in 2026, and Matter Labs is now fully focusing its development on zkSync Era and the ZK Stack chains.
Its shutdown marks the end of a stage in which the first zero-knowledge rollups acted as public laboratories to validate ideas, reduce costs, and demonstrate that cryptographic scaling could handle real-world activity without compromising security. The transition confirms that the experiment achieved its goals and that the ecosystem is moving toward platforms capable of running complete applications.
Lite Has Nothing More to Offer
zkSync Lite was launched between June and December 2020 as a payment-focused solution. It enabled token transfers, swaps, and NFT minting with lower fees but could not execute smart contracts. This limitation relegated it to the background from March 2023, when the launch of zkSync Era introduced a full zkEVM, opening the way for the development of more robust products: exchanges, financial applications, identity protocols, and enterprise tools. Matter Labs paused active development on Lite once Era stabilized, though the network remained operational to maintain continuity for its users.
The team confirmed that nothing will change in the short term. Funds remain secure, withdrawals to Ethereum continue normally, and no immediate action is required. A detailed migration plan and final timeline will be published during 2026. The goal is to ensure an orderly transition, maintain network availability, and provide enough time for users, integrators, and projects to adjust their operations.
Institutions Are Already Building on zkSync Era
Ecosystem development accelerated over the past two years. The June 2024 3.0 upgrade transformed zkSync into an Elastic Network, an environment of autonomous chains sharing liquidity and security through cryptographic proofs instead of traditional bridges. This model solidified Era as the foundation of the new framework and definitively displaced Lite.
Institutional support strongly backs the transition. Deutsche Bank is building an L2 chain using zkSync technology within Singapore’s regulatory sandbox. UBS validated the use of Validium for tokenizing gold. For Matter Labs, the convergence of these projects confirms that the future of scaling lies in full ZK environments and that Lite is no longer necessary
