Matter Labs Unveils Atlas Upgrade for ZK Stack, Promising Major Throughput and Finality Gains

Matter Labs, the core developer behind the Ethereum layer two (L2) scaling solution Zksync, has launched the Atlas upgrade for its ZK Stack, significantly enhancing throughput and reducing finality times for a network of customizable blockchains.

Zksync Developer Announces Atlas

The upgrade introduces a new, high-performance sequencer designed to process more than 15,000 transactions per second (TPS). The Zksync developer disclosed in a blog post that in internal tests, the system handled approximately 23,000 TPS for high-frequency price updates and 15,000 TPS for stablecoin transfers.

The redesign focuses on minimizing latency, achieving average transaction inclusion times between 250 and 500 milliseconds, and improving overall system resilience. A key component is the integration of Airbender, an open-source RISC-V proof system. Airbender generates zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs for blocks in approximately one second, a feature termed “one-second ZK finality.”

This provides immediate cryptographic assurance before proofs are settled on the Ethereum mainnet within minutes. The company states this enables use cases like tokenized securities and onchain finance that require rapid, trustless settlement.

The system architecture was rebuilt for flexibility, compiling the same code to x86 for execution and to RISC-V for proving. This “what you execute is what you prove” model underpins native support for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and is designed to allow for future multi-VM environments, including EraVM and WASM. Matter Labs estimates the cost of proving an ERC-20 transfer will be around $0.0001.

According to the team, the Zksync Atlas upgrade is positioned for enterprises and institutions looking to deploy sovereign chains for specific use cases like real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and global payments. These chains can be customized for privacy and access while remaining connected to Ethereum for security and liquidity.

Matter Labs says this upgrade advances its 2025 roadmap, bringing it closer to its vision of a globally connected network of interoperable, cryptographically secured chains. Several teams already have testnets utilizing the new upgrade, with more mainnet deployments expected in the coming weeks.