Hakuhodo Key 3 is pleased to announce their official partnership with the Astar Foundation to drive the adoption of "Astar zkEVM Powered by Polygon" in Japan. Astar zkEVM is the newest product of Astar Network, a public blockchain originating from Japan. With the zkEVM, the Astar team is expanding its tech stack and building bridges to the vibrant Ethereum ecosystem.

Participants of the ongoing Hakuhodo Web3 Hackathon will also be able to use the Astar zkEVM testnet.

Background and Challenges:

Even though the amount of apps and web3 users is increasing, the space is still considered to be in its early stage, similar to the Internet in the 1990s. However, the more users access blockchains, the more its scalability issues come to light. Since Ethereum doesn’t scale to support mass adoption, countless teams have been building Layer 2 solutions that allow transactions to be processed off-chain while only requiring results to be broadcast back to the Layer 1 chain.

The rise of Layer-2 solutions has already contributed to increasing the system's overall throughput while benefitting users and developers with low fees.

Astar zkEVM Powered by Polygon

"Astar zkEVM Powered by Polygon" is a Layer 2 solution for Ethereum, the world's largest blockchain. It enhances Ethereum's speed and reduces fees using cutting-edge zero-knowledge cryptography. Astar zkEVM has been developed using Polygon’s zkEVM development kit, the CDK.

While the mainnet launch is tentatively scheduled for early 2024, pending results from the testnet, developers will be able to try using the Astar zkEVM testnet starting on October 23, 2023.

Additionally, anyone joining the ongoing web3 Global Hackathon that has been running since September 30th is encouraged to deploy their submission on Astar zkEVM and the existing Astar EVM chain. You can still join using this link:

Benefits of Astar zkEVM powered by Polygon

While developers and companies face countless options when picking a chain to develop on, Hakuhodo Key3 has identified the benefits that using Astar zkEVM enables.

1. Consumer Benefits: Low fees and fast transactions.

EVM chains have high network effects. However, the more people transact on Ethereum mainnet, the higher its gas fees tend to become. Astar zkEVm offers lower fees and faster transactions, benefitting cost-conscious customers.

2. Developer Benefits: Great variety of development tools and libraries

As the largest blockchain with a growing developer ecosystem, Ethereum is home to the widest variety of tooling and infrastructure providers that reduce go-to-market time and general development efforts. Astar zkEVM is fully compatible with Ethereum, allowing developers to utilize the extensive development support tools and infrastructure available for Ethereum.

3. Business Benefits: Japanese business support

Astar zkEVM is developed in collaboration between Astar Network and Polygon Labs, allowing for PR support from both Astar and Polygon communities (including social media, Discord, partnership media, etc.) upon service release. Astar and Polygon are renowned for their experience onboarding enterprise partners and offer holistic support for teams starting on Astar zkEVM.

Looking to build on Astar zkEVM?

Companies interested in exploring Astar zkEVM are encouraged to reach out. Please send an overview of your project to info@key3.co.jp.

About Astar Network:

Astar Network is the gateway for projects across enterprises, entertainment & gaming in Japan and beyond, driving global adoption and delivering web3 to billions. It leverages a cross-virtual machine powered by Polygon and Polkadot to offer customizable blockchain solutions that accelerate web3 adoption. With zk-powered Ethereum L2 Scaling (zkEVM), EVM, Wasm, and a cutting-edge ecosystem, Astar delivers robust, secure, and interoperable web3 technology. Astar zkEVM is the new Layer-2 solution to scale a web3 experience on Ethereum with zero knowledge (ZK) technology. Astar Network adds an EVM equivalent environment that is seamlessly compatible with existing smart contracts, developer tools, and wallets on Ethereum.

Official Website: https://astar.network/

Twitter (Formerly): https://twitter.com/astarNetwork

About Hakuhodo Key 3:

HAKUHODO KEY3 is a web3 business production venture established in December 2022 by Hakuhodo Inc. and Sota Watanabe, CEO of Startale Labs Japan, a provider of consulting and development support using its knowledge from developing the Astar Network. HAKUHODO KEY3 aims to originate world-first web3 services using sei-katsu-sha insight and creativity, as a way to help realize a society with our corporate partners in which more sei-katsu-sha are able to engage with web3.

Official Website: https://key3.co.jp/

Twitter (Formerly): https://twitter.com/H_KEY3

For inquiries about this release or Hakuhodo Key 3:

Contact Hakuhodo Key 3 at info@key3.co.jp.

This post was originally published in Japanese; you can find the original release here.