ZKsync Era: Financials

Blockchain Financials

Network REV (Real Economic Value) is a standardized metric that tracks blockchain value accrual generated by user activity. REV consists of both in-protocol transaction fees and out-of-protocol tips that users pay for transaction execution. Therefore, it also measures the monetary demand to transact on a blockchain. In the case of ZKsync Era, there are no out-of-protocol tips so all REV is generated by in-protocol transaction fees.

From the perspective of the token holders, REV is the "top line" metric of a blockchain as it represents the amount of value paid into the system that token holders are ultimately eligible to earn, net of any operating expenses.

The operating expenses, or Operator Payments, consist of the value allocated to the infrastructure providers responsible for running the network, such as posting data back to the L1.

Therefore, Token Holder Net Income is the remaining value eligible to be distributed to the token holders and is calculated as REV less any Operator Payments. In the case of ZKsync Era, all Token Holder Net Income accrues to the DAO.

ZKsync Era Financials

From the perspective of the token holders, REV is the "top line" metric of a blockchain as it represents the amount of value that users pay for transaction execution and the value that token holders are ultimately eligible to earn, net of any operating expenses.

Real Economic Value

Network REV is a standardized metric that tracks blockchain value capture generated by real income. REV consists of both in-protocol transaction fees and out-of-protocol tips that users pay for transaction execution. Therefore, it is a measure of the users aggregate demand to transact.

ZKsync Era transaction fees are determined by the cost for processing the transaction on the L2 plus the cost of publishing the data down to Ethereum.

Operator Payments

Payments to operators refer to the portion of a blockchain's Total Economic Value (TEV) that is allocated to the infrastructure providers responsible for running the network, such as miners or validators. These payments generally cover the real-world costs of maintaining the network plus some margin to incentivize participation.

For most L2s today, the offchain costs of sequencer operation are born by the Labs or Foundation entities. The sequencers are often run at break even.

Token Holder Net Income

Token Holder Net Income = REV - Operator Payments. It measures the value that accrues to the token holders after considering payments to operators.

For ZKsync Era, Token Holder Net Income accrues to the DAO.