ZK Battle: The Cryptocurrency Industry’s Quest for Tickers and Attention

“Choosing a good name is half the success of a brand.”
In the crypto industry, the same applies to a good ticker symbol.
Recently, there has been controversy in the crypto community over the token name (ticker) and trademark of zkSync, a well-known zkRollup Layer2 project on Ethereum.
And all of this is due to zkSync finally launching its token.
Reason: Conflict caused by zkSync choosing “ZK” as the token name
On May 21, 2024, according to insider information, zkSync plans to hold a token generation event during that week. The token issuance (including airdrop) will take place within 30 days after the TGE (Token Generation Event), with a total supply of 21 billion tokens. The zkSync token airdrop is expected to take place around June 13.
zkSync hopes to use “ZK” as its token name. However, the problem is that another zk project, Polyhedra, has already used that name and is trading with that token name on some mainstream exchanges.
Subsequently, on May 23, Bybit announced that it would adjust the name of the Polyhedra token and list it on their spot trading platform using the ticker “ZK” for zkSync.
On May 24, Polyhedra publicly condemned zkSync’s choice of the token name, stating, “It’s unbelievable that in 2024, even after the approval of ETH ETF, there are still projects that benefit from others and deprive them of their rightful token names.”
On May 28, Polyhedra Network posted on X platform, stating, “zkSync has never contacted us, and zkSync continues to spread rumors among different entities. If every project that invests a large amount of funds for token issuance faces the threat of having their token ticker taken away, the whole industry will become chaotic and lead to significant regulatory problems.”
In fact, this is not the first time zkSync has encountered token name issues. In the previous cycle in 2021, the L2 project ZKSwap used “ZKS” as its token name. zkSync had a dispute with ZKSwap at that time due to the potential confusion caused by the ZKS token name.
Escalation: zkSync’s development company submits a trademark for “ZK” causing anger
On May 30, 2024, the conflict escalated further.
Market rumors spread that Matter Labs, the development company behind zkSync, has further submitted trademark applications in nine countries based on using “ZK” as the token name, attempting to claim “ZK” as its exclusive intellectual property.
This has angered the crypto industry.
Several ZK projects, including StarkWare, Algorand, Polygon, Polyhedra Network, and Kakarot, jointly issued a statement condemning Matter Labs’ actions.
This is clearly a case of a company trying to claim something that does not belong to it. “ZK” should remain a public resource owned by everyone. It should not become a trademark of a particular company; it should be open to everyone. The act of a company using the legal system to monopolize a public resource goes against the spirit of cryptocurrencies, Ethereum, and academia. They openly call on the community to demand that Matter Labs withdraw all trademark applications and the use of the “ZK” token name.
The signatories of the joint statement include:
– Shafi Goldwasser, Turing Award winner, co-inventor of ZK proofs, StarkWare scientific advisor
– Silvio Micali, Turing Award winner, co-inventor of ZK proofs, founder of Algorand Technologies
– Eli Ben-Sasson, StarkWare CEO, Zcash founder scientist, co-inventor of ZK-STARKs
– Sandeep Nailwal, Polygon co-founder
– Tiancheng Xie, Polyhedra Network co-founder, zkBridge inventor
– Brendan Farmer, Polygon co-founder
– Elias Tazartes, Kakarot co-founder
StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson tweeted, “I created the mathematical terms STARK, FRI, AIR. I founded StarkWare, and we did not register trademarks for them. Mathematics is a public good. No company should claim ownership of it. Certainly, a company that emerged 30 years after the discovery of the mathematics should not own it.”
Rebecca Rettig, Chief Legal and Policy Officer of 0xPolygon Labs, also criticized the ZK trademark application, stating that trademarks protect company brands, not public goods. She believes that applying for a trademark for a widely used technical term like “ZK” goes against the open-source nature of crypto technology.
Polygon’s official Twitter account also called on Matter Labs to withdraw all improperly filed generic trademark applications.
Polygon Labs adheres to the true spirit of Ethereum and continuously releases open-source code that benefits everyone. This commitment has had a positive impact on the entire crypto field. Polygon Plonky2 has been widely adopted, demonstrating the significant benefits of our open and collaborative approach to the web3 community. Matter Labs is one of the beneficiaries, as their core “zk” technology stack utilizes Polygon Plonky2. Initially, they used this technology developed by Polygon Labs without proper acknowledgment until they were called out. And now, they are taking it further. Despite relying on other people’s zk technology, Matter Labs is seeking to register “zk” as a trademark, potentially restricting others from using it. Should anyone be allowed to monopolize the mathematical knowledge provided openly by pioneers like Shafi Goldwasser, Silvio Micali, Charles Rackoff, Eli Ben-Sasson (STARKs), or Daniel Lubarov (Plonky2, a widely adopted zk library in web3)? Absolutely not. They may claim to do this for the benefit of users, but ask yourself: Would users truly benefit if a company monopolized zk technology? Would zkSync network even exist without the zk technology developed by Polygon Labs? Impossible. The “zk” trademark would actually harm users due to confusion.
Linea, the zkEVM L2 project under ConsenSys, the parent company of MetaMask, also spoke out against Matter Labs’ ZK trademark application. Linea stated, “Claiming ownership of the cryptographic branches used to develop permissionless, decentralized L2 execution environments through a legal framework goes against the principles of Ethereum and the reason we are all here… We support StarkWare’s statement, and Matter Labs should withdraw their trademark attempt.”
On May 30, one week after the conflict between Polyhedra and zkSync over the “ZK” token name, Polyhedra announced that it would use the token name “ZKJ” when listing on HashKey Global on May 31, gradually changing the token names on various exchanges to “ZKJ.”
Some netizens expressed their opinions, saying, “Registering a trademark for ZK is stealing the achievements of other ZK developers” and “Registering air as a trademark would be an epic thing.”
Listening to both sides: Matter Labs’ defense
In response to the public statements from various ZK projects, Alex Gluchowski, the founder and CEO of Matter Labs, personally defended the ZK trademark application.
Matter Labs is a passionate supporter of libertarianism, cypherpunk spirit, and the values described in the ZK Credo. We reject the concept of “intellectual property.” Everything we create is released to the public under free open-source licenses.
However, the existence of trademarks is to protect users, not companies. All the trademarks we have registered, including those related to “ZK,” are defensive to prevent dishonest actors from misleading customers and confusing their products and services with those provided by Matter Labs (unfortunately, this has happened in the past).
But “ZK” is the ultimate goal, so we went further. We have previously contacted the legal team of the Ethereum Foundation and proposed collaborating to create a legal framework for using “ZK” and similar important technical terms in the public domain. We invite others to join this initiative, especially those who have applied for trademarks related to STARK.
Some netizens also spoke out in defense of zkSync.
The zkSync team is sincere in ensuring security and has publicly announced this. Because Polyhedra clowns threatened their launch with market fluctuations, I believe the zk team had no choice but to register it as a trademark and then announce that anyone can use it. I believe that through such actions, their launch will not be threatened by the Polyhedra team.
Currently, the temporary result is that Polyhedra’s attempt to claim the ZK ticker has failed. But the outcome of whether zkSync can successfully obtain the ZK token name and trademark, and how the controversy will end, remains to be seen.
A good ticker symbol is all about grabbing attention
In fact, the dispute between zkSync and Polyhedra over the ZK token name, as well as the controversy surrounding zkSync’s application for the ZK trademark, reflects how scarce attention is in the current crypto market, and every project wants to grab people’s attention with a good ticker symbol.
In modern society, everyone’s attention is limited. To attract people’s attention and occupy their minds, a good name can have a multiplier effect.
From the perspective of projects, adopting proprietary terms or nouns that have already captured the public’s mind as token names can lead to instant fame, increase the project’s legitimacy, and fuel investor FOMO sentiment.
Therefore, in the crypto industry, there are numerous tokens with names based on proprietary terms or nouns. This is most evident in the meme coin field. Searching for “MEME” on CoinMarketCap will yield 100 tokens with “MEME” as their name.
Other meme coins that use well-known terms as ticker symbols include PEPE, DOG, People, TRUMP, MAGA, ORDI, and more.
Outside of meme coins, there are countless projects that use well-known words as ticker symbols, such as TAO, NEO, QTUM, TOKEN, GAS, and others.
Tags:
– 2023 Market Trends
– Algorand
– Kakarot
– Polygon
– Polyhedra
– Polyhedra Network
– StarkWare
– ZKP
– zkSync
– Ethereum
– Jinse Finance
Source Link:
https://www.jinse.com/blockchain/3686849.html
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute investment advice.
Original Article: https://www.bitpush.news/articles/6827042
Related News:
– The United States is experiencing a digital currency craze: Crypto Spring is coming in strong!
– BlackRock may purchase $10 million worth of ETH for its Ethereum ETF funding
– How should Web3 projects view “liquidity vampire” crypto market makers?
– Year-to-date gains of over 1100%: Understanding the past and future of PEPE
– WuShuo Podcast: Ethereum ETF suddenly approved, ETH price prediction, SOL ETF possibility?