A Public Dataset For the ZKsync Rollup

Abstract: Despite blockchain data being publicly available, practical challenges and high costs often hinder its effective use by researchers, thus limiting data-driven research and exploration in the blockchain space. This is especially true when it comes to Layer-2 (L2) ecosystems, and ZKsync, in particular. To address these issues, we have curated a dataset from 1 year of activity extracted from a ZKsync Era archive node and made it freely available to external parties. We provide details on this dataset and how it was created, showcase a few example analyses that can be performed with it, and discuss some future research directions.

• The paper introduces a curated dataset from one year of ZKsync Era, encompassing 29M blocks, 327M transactions, and over 2B event logs.
• It demonstrates detailed analyses on gas usage, transaction fees, smart contract events, and swap activities to reveal network dynamics.
• The dataset overcomes data access challenges by eliminating the need for costly archive nodes, broadening participation in blockchain research.

A Public Dataset For the ZKsync Rollup

ZKsync, as a Layer 2 (L2) scaling solution for Ethereum, significantly enhances transaction throughput using Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP). However, the accessibility of blockchain data remains a consistent barrier for researchers, from both technical and cost perspectives. This paper introduces a curated dataset from one year of ZKsync Era, aimed at mitigating these challenges. This dataset has been meticulously collated from a ZKsync Era archive node and has been made freely available to support the blockchain research community.

Key Contributions and Dataset Details

1. Public Availability of ZKsync Data: The authors have made the ZKsync Era dataset publicly accessible on a GitHub repository. The dataset encompasses comprehensive information on blocks, transactions, receipts, and logs from February 14, 2023, to March 24, 2024. Significantly, this dataset covers 29,710,983 blocks, 327,174,035 transactions, and 204,422,1151 event logs.
2. Facilitating Research and Analysis: The authors provided a detailed examination of potential analyses utilizing this dataset. The dataset supports research into transaction fees, gas usage, token transfers, and smart contract events, among others.
3. Practical Implications for Users and Researchers: The dataset addresses the technical and financial challenges associated with deploying archive nodes or using paid data providers. It simplifies data access, enabling both technical and non-technical users to perform comprehensive blockchain analyses. This approach fosters a broader involvement in blockchain research and can support studies on various aspects such as MEV (Miner Extractable Value), user activity patterns, and decentralized governance.

Example Analyses

The paper showcases multiple insightful analyses to demonstrate the capabilities of the dataset:

• Gas Usage and Transaction Fees: The authors analyzed gas usage and transaction fees over the year. The results indicated an average daily transaction volume of 905,194, with notable spikes driven by specific events such as zkApes airdrop and inscriptions boom. Gas usage patterns reflected significant fluctuations with large spikes in May 2023, December 2023, and March 2024. Additionally, the introduction of the Boojum prover and the implementation of EIP-4844 significantly reduced transaction fees.
• Events and Contract Deployments: The paper highlights the distribution of events in the ZKsync Era, showing Transfer events as the dominant event type, representing 70.9% of all events. It also analyzes contract deployments, noting increased deployment rates after September 2023.
• Swaps: Swap events, essential for decentralized exchanges (DEXs), were explored. The paper identifies top contracts involved in swaps and provides a detailed view of swap activity and user behavior. For example, the SyncSwap USDC/WETH pool was the largest emitter of Swap events.

These analyses are well-supported by detailed Jupyter notebooks, shared on GitHub, ensuring reproducibility and offering a starting point for further research.

Future Research Directions

1. MEV and Arbitrage: The dataset can be instrumental in exploring MEV strategies in L2 scenarios, such as backrunning and cross-rollup arbitrage, extending the understanding of MEV in blockchain ecosystems.
2. User Activity Analysis: Leveraging the comprehensive log data, researchers can study user behavior, identify airdrop farming strategies, and examine the impact of social media activities on blockchain adoption.
3. Decentralized Governance: The dataset enables a thorough examination of decentralized governance activities, such as voting behavior and token distribution, providing insights into the dynamics and fairness of on-chain governance.

Conclusion

The public release of the ZKsync dataset is a significant step towards enhancing blockchain research, particularly in the context of L2 solutions. By providing an extensive, easily accessible dataset, this work addresses critical data availability issues, fosters broader research participation, and supports diverse analytical studies. The dataset not only serves immediate research needs but will likely stimulate further advancements and understanding in blockchain technology and its applications.

The dataset, accessible on GitHub, stands as a foundational resource for both data-driven blockchain research and practical applications, promoting transparency, reproducibility, and community collaboration in the evolving field of blockchain science.