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ZkLend, the decentralized money market protocol native to Starknet, an Ethereum Layer 2, completed its mainnet launch on Oct. 19.<\/p>\n
Users can now permissionlessly deposit assets to earn yield or borrow tokens via zkLend\u2019s retail-focussed platform, Artemis.<\/p>\n
The alpha mainnet<\/a> deployment for Artemis went live on May 11, offering capped support for ETH, USDC, USDT, DAI, and WBTC. zkLend marked the completion of its mainnet launch by removing the pool limits today. It also introduces support for Lido\u2019s liquid staking token, stETH.<\/p>\n ZkLend added that it plans to serve institutional users via its forthcoming \u201cApollo\u201d platform. Apollo is a permissioned interface offering compliance features tailored for institutional users.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Starknet recently emerged as a major contender in the race to scale Ethereum, with the network currently ranking as the second-most active Layer 2 by daily throughput and the fourth-most popular by monthly activity, according to L2beat<\/a>.<\/p>\n Starknet\u2019s on-chain activity took off in late July when its daily throughput exceeded three transactions per second (TPS) for only the second time. Its daily throughput climbed steadily over the following six weeks to tag an all-time high of 10.16 TPS on Sept. 9, but has since pulled back by 42%.<\/p>\n Unlike most Layer 2s, Starknet has foregone Ethereum Virtual Machine compatibility in favor of developing its own smart contract engine and bespoke programming language, Cairo.<\/p>\n While EVM-compatible chains benefit by allowing developers to easily port code over from the Ethereum mainnet, Starknet and its ecosystem projects believe Cairo offers greater scalability and performance than its EVM-based rivals.<\/p>\n “The decision to forego EVM compatibility is a strategic investment in the unparalleled scalable technology of the Cairo VM, highlighting the benefits realized when not restricted by EVM design,\u201d zkLend told The Defiant. \u201cIt is more flexible and robust, with less compromises from custom pre-compiles, catering to developers that are looking to innovate and build their own application framework.\u201d<\/p>\n ZkLend is the fourth-largest DeFi protocol on Starknet despite only exiting its alpha launch phase today. The protocol boasts a $4.5M total value locked, according to DeFi Llama.<\/p>\nStarknet Activity Rises<\/h2>\n
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