✅ Master Rollup Trade-offs
Understand optimistic vs ZK security models, speeds, and use cases
Compare the two dominant rollup approaches
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0 / 5 completed🎓 Key Takeaways
Let's review the essential concepts about optimistic and ZK rollups - two powerful approaches to Ethereum scaling.
🔮 Optimistic Rollups
- •Trust Model: Assume valid, verify if challenged
- •Security: Fraud proofs during 7-day challenge period
- •Withdrawals: 7 days to finalize (challenge period)
- •EVM: Full equivalence, easy migration
- •Examples: Arbitrum, Optimism, Base
🔐 ZK Rollups
- •Trust Model: Cryptographically prove validity upfront
- •Security: Validity proofs guarantee correctness
- •Withdrawals: Instant finality (minutes, not days)
- •EVM: Challenging, but improving rapidly
- •Examples: zkSync, StarkNet, Polygon zkEVM
✅ Trade-offs Summary
- •Speed: Optimistic executes faster, ZK finalizes faster
- •Costs: Optimistic cheaper to operate, ZK has high proving costs
- •Security: ZK offers mathematical guarantees vs game theory
- •Complexity: Optimistic simpler, ZK requires advanced crypto
- •Both achieve 10-100x scaling vs Ethereum mainnet
🎯 Use Case Guidance
- •DeFi: Optimistic (EVM compatibility, lower costs)
- •Payments: ZK (instant finality critical)
- •Gaming: Optimistic (7-day delay acceptable)
- •CEX Off-ramps: ZK (fast withdrawals essential)
- •Future: ZK likely to dominate as tech matures
📝 Knowledge Check Quiz
Test your understanding of rollup differences. You need 3/5 correct to pass.