The Protocol: Another Episode in the Layer-2 Teams Drama

We take a look at what unfolded after Matter Labs’ planned to trademark the term “ZK.”

Ethereum's layer-2 teams are clashing once again. This time, major figures in the space are condemning Matter Labs, the creator of zkSync, over its decision to trademark the acronym "ZK," which is shorthand for "zero-knowledge” cryptography, the core technology underlying zkSync and a plethora of other blockchain projects.

The clash began last week when Matter Labs revealed its plans to trademark the term "ZK." The move quickly drew the ire of other L2 teams, who argued that trademarking public goods does not serve the interests of the Ethereum ecosystem.

"The ZK community spans far beyond any single company, and an attempt by one company to trademark ZK is an absurd IP-grab," StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson told CoinDesk in a statement.

"An application to trademark a technology used by an entire industry is an attack on Web3's open-source ethos," Polygon Chief Legal Officer Rebecca Rettig wrote on X. "A trademark is to protect a company’s brand, not the crypto community at large."

This isn't the first time that Matter Labs has found itself in hot water with its competitors. In August, the Polygon team went on a media blitz with the claim that Matter Labs had copied its Plonky-2 software system without proper attribution. Leaders from other teams, like Starkware, also weighed in at the time, expressing their disappointment with Matter Labs.

(Gluchowski denied the claims of copying but said his team “could have done better” by providing clearer attribution to other teams' open-source code.)

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal seemed to reference the debacle when he weighed in on the earlier dispute, saying in a statement last week that "zkSync has repeatedly acted contrary to the Web3 ethos, despite consistently signaling those same values. We believe that if we do not publicly address this behavior, it will persist and potentially worsen."

Gluchowski initially dismissed the complaints, sharing that his intention with the trademark application was to protect users and adding that Matter Labs would eventually move to share the trademark with a yet-to-exist consortium of ecosystem stakeholders.

"We filed for the ZK trademark to the benefit of the Ethereum community with the intention of sharing it with an upcoming collective," Gluchowski told CoinDesk in a statement on Monday. "The trademark is intended to protect users and the community from copycat projects and similar token tickers. We're gathering feedback on the best way to proceed."

Three days later, however, Matter Labs opted to walk back on its trademark efforts entirely.

"After gathering community feedback and further internal discussion, we've decided to fully withdraw our ZK trademark application," Gluchowski wrote in a statement on Thursday. "We appreciate everyone who shared their thoughts on this matter."