ZKsync creator floats governance token revamp to add ‘economic utility’

The co-creator of the Ethereum-scaling solution ZKsync has proposed a major overhaul of its governance token, arguing it should prioritize “economic utility.”

In a post on Tuesday to the ZKsync forum, Alex Gluchowski argued that while its ZKsync (ZK) governance token was effective in the project’s early stages as the “architecture and adoption path were still forming,” the network has since rapidly evolved.

He said it now hosts an ecosystem of interconnected zero-knowledge chains and it is important that ZKsync’s token captures network value and drives further ecosystem adoption.

“The goal is to align usage with value, make decentralization economically sustainable, and ensure the network captures a meaningful share of the economic benefits it creates.”

Gluchowski, who is also the co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs, the firm behind ZKsync, emphasized that funds must flow back into the “network’s economy,” as this will enable continual infrastructure upgrade, security enhancements, public goods funding and “long-term independence.”

“The design goal is to establish a self-reinforcing economic loop where adoption increases network resources, and those resources in turn enhance the network for all participants,” he wrote.

New tokenomics tied to revenue

Gluchowski outlined that the revamped ZK token would derive value onchain from avenues like protocol-native fees, generated from “interoperability and other core settlement and messaging functions,” and offchain via licensing agreements for “enterprise software components.”

In terms of the licensing deals, ZKsync’s stack is free to use as it is open-source. However, Gluchowski argued that when large enterprises adopt “community-built infrastructure” for complex uses such as treasury integrations, there should be agreements in place to provide value back to the ecosystem.

“When such capabilities are funded by the ecosystem, it is reasonable that their use by enterprise participants returns value to the ecosystem,” he wrote.

Proposed tokenomics. Source: Alex Gluchowski

From there, all of this extracted value would then flow into a “governance-controlled system” that would direct it to ZK market buybacks, staking rewards, token burning and ecosystem funding.

“For decentralization to persist, it must be economically sustainable. The network needs a durable economic model that supports ongoing development, security, and operation by many independent participants, not by a central sponsor.”

ZKsync has been eyeing a change-up of its governance token for months now. Back in June, Matter Labs' head of business development Omar Azhar posted a “ZKnomics Roadmap Vision” on the project’s forum.

“ZKnomics is designed to align ZK with the long-term health and sustainability of the protocol. It proposes a system where network usage drives protocol revenue, and that revenue is programmatically directed toward two core functions: incentivizing protocol participants and managing token supply,” Azhar wrote.

The proposed timeline of this token shift is unclear. Gluchowski also posted this proposal to X to encourage more feedback and review from the community, adding that more details will be provided “once there is broad support for this direction.”