The ZK Verification Layer for Ethereum
Content on this page was provided by the Aligned Layer team
Aligned is a ZK modular stack designed to accelerate the roadmap of Ethereum. By unlocking the full potential of ZK proofs with a suite of products, Aligned enables builders to use proofs with minimal complexity and reduced costs compared to current options.
Why are we building this?
ZK is the main technology that will help Ethereum scale. It will help unlock new applications for blockchain and change the way the internet works moving forward. The main issue is that on-chain verification costs for proofs on Ethereum do not scale and will become increasingly expensive with time if things don’t change, especially as ZK-proving technology gets faster and better.
Aligned has launched its first product, The Proof Verification Layer (Fast Mode Mainnet Beta), providing zero-knowledge proof verification services on Ethereum using EigenLayer for restaking. Mainnet Beta offers more than a 90% cost reduction for verification of multiple zero-knowledge and validity proof systems. Currently, Mainnet Beta can handle 1000 proofs per second while keeping costs per proof low. With future upgrades, Aligned’s Proof Verification Layer will be able to handle thousands of proof verification per second while further improving costs.
Technical Achievements
Aligned launched Mainnet Beta within 10 months of its first testnet allowing everyone to verify proofs for a 90% cost reduction. The team is composed of contributors for many projects in the ZK industry along with shipping products in adtech, fintech, enterprise cloud services, analytics platforms, ML and LLM systems.
Proof System Compatibility
In Aligned, all proof systems are equal. There is no additional overhead from a VM, even with the constraints of the EVM and natively running the verifiers on a computer. Aligned can easily adopt any new ZK technology by simply integrating the native verifiers while maintaining the same interface. This means Aligned will always be ready to adopt new advancements in the space, offering them to developers faster than any other solution in the market.
Succeeding With The ZK Community
The Aligned ecosystem consists of 50 operators currently running the Proof Verification Layer AVS backed by over 1.6M in restaked ETH (more than 5B USD), 30+ partners and clients building ZK-powered apps and services on top of Aligned, and a growing developer community.
| Option 1 | Option 2 | |
| Sale Date | January 16, 2025 17:00 UTC - January 23, 2025 17:00 UTC | |
| Token Price | $0.03 | $0.04 |
| Fully Diluted Network Value | $300,000,000 | $400,000,000 |
| Vesting Schedule | 10% unlock on the exchange listing date expected during Q1 2025, followed by a 12-month linear unlock for the remainder of the tokens | 25% unlock on the exchange listing date expected during Q1 2025, followed by a 6-month linear unlock for the remainder of the tokens |
| Allocated Supply | $5,000,000* worth of ALIGN Tokens sold across both options - up to 166,666,667 ALIGN Tokens (1.67% of the total token supply). Allocations will be determined on a First Come, First Serve basis. The supply of ALIGN will be exhausted once the sum of both sale options reaches $5,000,000. | |
| Total Token Supply | 10,000,000,000 ALIGN Tokens | |
| Purchase Limits | Minimum: $100.00 Maximum: $480,000.00 |
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| Funding Methods | USDC, USDT, (ERC-20 only) | |
| Eligible Participants | Excluded participants include residents of the US (and its territories), Canada, China, and certain jurisdictions. | |
| Token Sale FAQ | Aligned Token Sale FAQ | |
*An additional $5,000,000 worth of ALIGN (up to 166,666,667 ALIGN Tokens, 1.67% of the total supply) may be made available for purchase during the Aligned Token Sale at the sole discretion of Aligned. The additional supply of ALIGN will be exhausted once the sum of both sale options reaches $10,000,000 total.
Tokens will be sold on a first come, first served basis, ensuring fair access for participants until the supply is exhausted. Successful participation does not guarantee an allocation in the token sale.
ALIGN will have a total supply of 10,000,000,000 (10 billion) tokens, with an initial circulating supply of 3,000,000,000. It is an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network. The majority will be awarded to the community, aimed at recognizing early work and contributions to the broader crypto ecosystem and fostering the development of applications and products on top of Aligned, as well as to help fulfill the roadmap and long-term vision of Aligned.
More tokenomics/distribution information in their blog post: https://blog.alignedlayer.com/aligned-align-tokenomics-and-roadmap/
The ALIGN token is a key part of Aligned’s Proof Verification Layer’s design. The token will be used in two ways:
Currently, users pay for verification using ETH. By enabling payments using ALIGN, users are given more flexibility in how they can verify ZK proofs, allowing them to save even more on verification.
The Aligned ecosystem consists of 50 operators currently running the Proof Verification Layer AVS, 30+ partners and clients building ZK-powered apps and services on top of Aligned, and a growing developer community.
50 operators currently run Aligned’s decentralized proof verification layer, backed by over 1.6M in restaked ETH (equivalent to ~5B USD). This cryptoeconomic security ensures that proof verification is carried out correctly. Operators are held to strict uptime and performance requirements, providing Aligned’s users with the best performance and experience possible.
More than 30 partners, ranging from interoperability solutions to ZKML coprocessors, are building on Aligned to bring ZK-powered products to market without cost barriers. Aligned is positioned to enable a growing suite of services across consumer and enterprise applications, and is ready to serve the explosion of new products that become possible as ZK technology and developer tools improve.
Aligned is also growing its own developer ecosystem by incentivizing new experiments through hackathons and grants. We distributed nearly $70k in hackathon prizes in 2024 which saw a range of interesting new projects get built thanks to the capabilities provided by Aligned’s proof verification layer.
Today, costs for verifying zero-knowledge and validity proofs in Ethereum are expensive, creating an unsustainable market for running new ZK applications such as rollup, bridges and machine learning. In order to scale and accelerate Ethereum’s roadmap, developers need access to new infrastructure that can allow them to access fast and affordable verification for all zero-knowledge and validity proofs.
Aligned cuts the cost of verification for any zero-knowledge and validity proof by at least 90%. Our ZK proof verification will boost the maximum number of proofs per block from 120 to at least 4,000.
Beyond Proof Verification
The market needs something much larger—a complete modular ZK stack focused on accelerating Ethereum and designed with the lowest possible learning curve for developers. By unlocking the full potential of ZK on Ethereum, Aligned will remove restrictions and allow builders unlimited access to realizing success. In short, the tools and products just aren’t good enough unless it is a stack simple enough for any web2 developer to integrate.
- Proof Verification Layer “Fast Mode”: Utilizing Eigenlayer AVS to power our “Fast Mode” verification layer module, Aligned’s Fast Mode operates independently from the EVM, leveraging EigenLayer’s security model to process proofs at unprecedented speeds, significantly reducing complexity and costs. In addition, Fast Mode utilizes batching techniques to distribute the task creation and verification costs across thousands of proofs, further cutting expenses. This technique minimizes latency and operational costs, which is crucial to accelerate time-to-market for builders of decentralized applications.
- Proof Aggregation Layer: As part of our ZK Modular Stack ethos, we will provide a more security focused mode as a complimentary option to Fast Mode. The core idea is to have a ZK aggregation layer that’s easy to integrate with the fast mode and the Rollup Stack.
- Rollup Stack: An easy-to-launch Rollup Stack. The idea is to quickly provide something that reuses existing technology in the market while we develop our own ZKVM. We want developers to be able to launch a Rollup as quickly and easily as possible.
- Bridge for Rollups: A fast and secure intent bridge on top of Aligned.
Aligned’s Proof Verification Layer, an EigenLayer AVS, went live on Ethereum mainnet in December 2024. In addition to performance upgrades to the Proof Verification Layer, development has started on Aligned’s Proof Aggregation Layer as well as a new stack for ZK rollups and ZK bridges built on top of Aligned. These new tools will make it easier and cheaper to deploy interoperable and secure ZK rollups on Ethereum, empowering developers to build using the latest technologies.
