A Deep Dive into Aligned: The ZK Verification Layer for Ethereum

The Aligned Token Sale on CoinList is live now until January 23, 2025 at 17:00 UTC.

We sat down with the Aligned team to discuss the use cases their technology unlocks, why we need a ZK verification layer, ALIGN token utility, growth strategy for 2025, and why they decided to have two different sale options on CoinList. 

Let’s dive in.

1. What is Aligned and what problem does it solve?

Aligned is a zero-knowledge (ZK) proof verification layer designed to reduce the verification costs of ZK and validity proofs on Ethereum, enabling it to scale and making them accessible for developers.

Verifying ZK proofs without Aligned is expensive and unsustainable. If these problems aren’t solved, infrastructure to build ZK applications as well as the variety of products and services that can be built on top of Ethereum using ZK will be extremely limited.  

From there, Aligned will build a complete modular ZK stack to solve more efficiency problems to democratize ZK for everyone. 

2. Why do we need a ZK verification layer?

The cost of settling ZK and Validity proofs on Ethereum is currently very high. While there are many factors, we estimate that any entity building a business utilizing zero-knowledge proofs will spend in excess of seven-figures settling proofs on Ethereum. That really limits the kinds of businesses that can be built that utilize ZK.

Aligned’s batching techniques allow us to split the cost of verification across every participant using our proof verification layer. It has a positive network effect in that the more people who verify proofs with Aligned, the cheaper the cost is for everyone.

2. If Aligned isn’t an L2, what is it? 

Aligned’s first product, Fast Mode, is built as an EigenLayer AVS.  This allows us to leverage a portion of Ethereum's economic security to build a service for Ethereum applications with a new decentralized network.

3. What are Ethereum’s current ZK capabilities and how does Aligned improve them?

Ethereum was not designed with ZK in mind. Ethereum was designed to allow anyone who wants to participate in operating Ethereum a fair and equal chance at doing so. Because of that, certain tradeoffs have been made to preserve that approach. This has taken Ethereum down a rollup centric path. While rollups and proof markets and aggregators all help alleviate problems, the largest bottleneck still remains that systems still have to settle on Ethereum. Aligned’s approach allows everyone to work together and introduces efficiencies across the board. We play nicely with everyone :)

4. What are the key functions of the ALIGN token?

The ALIGN token is a key part of Aligned’s Proof Verification Layer’s design. The token will be used in two ways:

1/ Payment for the verification of proofs using Aligned with two payment options:

• Pay on demand: Applications use ALIGN to pay for verification on a per-proof basis. Fees are distributed to the Operators of the network.
• Subscription model: Applications must stake ALIGN to access the verification of proofs for one month. At the end, part of the staked tokens are distributed to the network.

2/ Dual staking to secure the Aligned network: Stakers will receive fees from the network as compensation. Stakers will be able to delegate ALIGN as well as ETH to EigenLayer operators who are running Aligned’s Proof Verification Layer. 

5. Are there any projects similar to Aligned Layer? What differentiates you from competitors?

There are competitors that support a limited set of proving systems, are early in their development, or that have smaller amounts of economic security. Aligned has a significant early mover advantage in that it is live on mainnet, supports multiple proving systems, and has over 8 billion USD worth of economic security.

6. Can you give any insight into your growth strategy and roadmap for 2025?

We share updates on our roadmap publicly, so be sure to follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our blog. Our main goals this year are to continue to invest in our ZK ecosystem partnerships and start building more applications with them. We also want to focus our efforts on our ZK modular stack offering, which includes a proof aggregation mode, a roll-up stack, and bridges for roll-ups.

7. What was the thought process behind two different sale options on CoinList?

We concluded our airdrop registrations at the end of 2024 and wanted to find a way for those in our community who didn’t qualify for airdrops to have a way to participate. The two different sale options were our attempt to not dictate to the community what the terms of the offering were and to give them more flexibility into choosing a path that makes the most sense for them. 

8. What is the best way to get involved in the Aligned Layer community?

We are active on Twitter, Discord and Telegram. Find us and say hello!

‼️ Sale ends on January 23 — don't miss out ‼️

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