Kakarot is an EVM-compatible ZK-rollup leveraging Cairo to drive Ethereum innovations. You might be wondering: “Why another zkEVM in 2024? Aren’t there enough already?” Here’s why Kakarot stands out:

Ethereum’s current roadmap is promising but needs support to achieve its full potential. While rollups foster innovation, existing ZK-rollups often lag in speed, and optimistic rollups offer only a slight improvement. Kakarot’s unique agility allows it to excel in the immediate needs and long-term vision of Ethereum scaling, making it a crucial player in the ecosystem’s evolution.

What is Kakarot?

Source: Kakarot website

Kakarot is an EVM-compatible ZK-rollup built on Cairo, designed to push Ethereum Layer 2 innovations. Kakarot built by Elias Tazartes and Clement Walter aims to combine the fast-paced development of dApps with the robust infrastructure required for Ethereum scaling. It stands out by enabling quick feature iterations and introducing native account abstraction. This approach allows Kakarot to lead Ethereum’s evolution, addressing builders’ needs efficiently and maintaining Ethereum’s competitive edge in a rapidly changing environment.

The Vision and Mission of Kakarot ZkEVM

Kakarot zkEVM envisions a future where Ethereum’s Layer 2 ecosystem thrives through enhanced performance, affordability, and user experience. Kakarot’s mission is to lead in Ethereum Layer 2 innovations by combining the strengths of its unique Cairo-based architecture with a commitment to user-centric development. By leveraging the high-level provable language Cairo, Kakarot separates cryptographic concerns from engineering, resulting in faster development, easier maintenance, and the integration of cutting-edge features ahead of the competition.

Foundational beliefs of the Kakarot Platform

The platform is built on three foundational beliefs:

1. Transaction Speed and Responsiveness: Kakarot emphasizes that while transaction per second (TPS) is a critical metric, sub-second transaction speeds akin to web2 applications are what users truly desire. This approach prioritizes responsiveness over mere transaction volume.

2. Cost-Effective Transactions: High transaction costs are seen as a significant barrier to adoption. Inspired by Vitalik Buterin’s insights, Kakarot aims to drastically reduce transaction fees to sub-penny levels, enabling greater experimentation and innovation within the Ethereum ecosystem.

3. Enhanced User Experience: Kakarot seeks to radically improve the user experience of web3 applications, offering solutions like native account abstraction, simplified multi-call transactions, and alternative security measures such as secure enclave signers. This focus on UX is intended to make blockchain technology more accessible and intuitive for a broader audience.

The Architecture of Kakarot

Source: Kakarot Documentation78

The Concept of zkEVM

Kakarot zkEVM is a specialized implementation designed to work with Ethereum, a widely-used blockchain platform. To fully grasp Kakarot, we first need to understand the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)

Source: Kakarot Documentation

The EVM acts as a large, distributed virtual computer running on the Ethereum blockchain. It manages accounts, balances, and state changes, adhering to predefined rules to ensure the consistency and correctness of the blockchain. The EVM is deterministic, meaning that given the same input, it will always produce the same output. This is crucial for maintaining consensus across the network.

Key Components of the EVM

• Virtual ROM: This stores the code of deployed smart contracts, which is immutable, meaning it cannot be changed once deployed.
• Program Counter (PC): This keeps track of the current position in the code being executed.
• Gas Available: Each operation within the EVM requires a certain amount of “gas,” a unit that measures computational effort. This field tracks the remaining gas for ongoing operations.
• Machine State (µ): This includes the current state of the machine, such as the program counter, memory, and stack. It resets between transactions.
• Stack: The EVM uses a stack-based architecture, storing data in a last-in, first-out manner.
• Memory: Temporary storage used during transaction execution resets between transactions.
• Storage: Long-term storage for each account, retaining data between transactions.
• World State (σ): The persistent state of the entire Ethereum system, encompassing all accounts and their respective data.

Kakarot and Cairo

Kakarot zkEVM is built using Cairo, a programming language for provable computations. This feature is essential for scaling Ethereum efficiently. Other teams have built their EVM implementations in languages like Golang and Rust, but Cairo’s provability is a significant advantage.

The Concept of zk-Rollup

Zero-Knowledge (zk) Rollup: This technique enhances Ethereum’s scalability by bundling multiple transactions into batches processed off-chain. Only the proof of these transactions is submitted to the Ethereum mainnet, reducing the computational load and lowering costs.

How zk-Rollups Work: Instead of re-executing each transaction across all network nodes, zk-Rollups allow a transaction to be executed once, then generate a proof that verifies its integrity. This proof is much cheaper to verify than re-executing the transaction itself.

Transitioning from EVM to zkEVM

A zkEVM like Kakarot maintains compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem, allowing users to interact using familiar tools like Metamask and developers to deploy smart contracts with minimal changes.

• Compatibility: Kakarot ensures that existing Ethereum tools and workflows remain usable, minimizing the learning curve for users and developers.
• Leveraging Cairo: Kakarot can incorporate advanced zero-knowledge proof techniques by building on Cairo, enhancing scalability and efficiency.

Advantages of Kakarot

• Increased Efficiency: zk-Rollups enable faster and more cost-effective transaction processing.
• User and Developer Friendly: Maintains compatibility with existing Ethereum tools and infrastructure.
• Scalability: Kakarot’s use of Cairo and zero-knowledge proofs allows it to handle more transactions as the Ethereum network grows.

How to Use Kakarot ZkEVM

Source: Kakarot Documentation

Kakarot zkEVM is designed to be compatible with Ethereum, making it easy for both users and developers to interact with it just like they would with Ethereum.

As a User

1. Switching Networks: To start using Kakarot, you simply change the RPC URL in your Ethereum wallet (like Metamask). This switch allows you to interact with Kakarot as you would with Ethereum mainnet.

1. Alpha Testnet: Kakarot is currently in its alpha testnet phase, so some unexpected behavior might occur. You can report any bugs you find through their Discord channel.

2. Adding Kakarot Sepolia to Metamask: To manually add Kakarot Sepolia to Metamask:

   1. Open the Metamask extension.

   2. Click “Add Network”.

   3. Choose “Add a Network Manually”.

   4. Fill in the fields:

      • Network Name: Kakarot Sepolia

      • RPC URL: https://sepolia-rpc.kakarot.org

      • Chain Id: 1802203764

      • Symbol: ETH

      • Block Explorer: https://sepolia.kakarotscan.org

3. Survival Guide: Check the survival guide section on their website for more useful links and information.

As a Developer

1. Building on Kakarot: Developers can build on Kakarot by simply changing the RPC URL in their development tools (like Foundry or Hardhat). This makes it very straightforward to deploy and test smart contracts on Kakarot.

2. Support and Bug Reporting: If you encounter any bugs or have questions, you can join the Kakarot Discord for support. You can also ask questions or discuss features on their Twitter page.

Kakarot’s Ecosystem and Tooling

To support its ecosystem, Kakarot offers a range of tools and resources that facilitate development and interaction. Two key components of this ecosystem are the Dipdup-data indexer and Hardhat.

Dipdup-Data Indexer

The Dipdup-data indexer is a powerful tool designed to help developers efficiently manage and query blockchain data within the Kakarot ecosystem. Here’s how it works:

• Data Indexing: The Dipdup-data indexer collects and organizes data from the Kakarot blockchain, making it easily accessible for developers. This is crucial for building applications that require quick access to specific pieces of blockchain data.
• Efficiency: By indexing data, Dipdup allows for faster query responses compared to directly interacting with the blockchain. This speeds up the development process and enhances the performance of applications built on Kakarot.
• Ease of Use: With a user-friendly interface and comprehensive documentation, Dipdup simplifies the data retrieval process, making it accessible even for developers who are new to blockchain technology.

Dipdup supports various types of data queries, including transaction histories, account balances, and contract states, making it a versatile tool for a wide range of applications.

Hardhat

Hardhat is a popular Ethereum development environment that has been integrated into the Kakarot ecosystem to streamline the development process for smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). Here’s what Hardhat brings to Kakarot:

• Development Environment: Hardhat provides a local Ethereum network for testing and debugging smart contracts. This environment replicates the conditions of the Kakarot network, allowing developers to identify and fix issues before deploying to the mainnet.
• Plugin System: Hardhat’s extensive plugin system enhances its functionality, enabling developers to add tools for tasks such as contract verification, code linting, and testing.
• Scriptable Deployments: Hardhat allows developers to write scripts for deploying smart contracts, automating the process and ensuring consistency across different environments.
• Debugging: With Hardhat, developers can debug their smart contracts with ease, using features like stack traces and error messages to quickly identify and resolve issues.

Ecosystem Integration

Kakarot’s ecosystem is designed to be developer-friendly, offering tools like Dipdup-data indexer and Hardhat to streamline the development process. This integration provides several advantages:

• Scalability: By using tools like Dipdup, developers can handle large volumes of data efficiently, ensuring that applications remain responsive and performant as they scale.
• Efficiency: Hardhat’s automated deployment and testing features save developers time and reduce the risk of errors, leading to more reliable applications.
• Seamless Experience: Both Dipdup and Hardhat are designed to work seamlessly within the Kakarot ecosystem, providing a cohesive and integrated development experience.

Kakarot Testnet Survival Guide

This guide provides essential links and information to help you navigate and make the most of the Kakarot Testnet.

Useful Links

Development Resources:

• Registration Page: Access to the Kakarot Testnet is invite-only. You need a whitelist invite to register.
• Faucet: Claim testnet ETH daily if you are whitelisted.

Testnet Tools:

• Explorers: Routescan, Chainlens
• Public RPC: https://sepolia-rpc.kakarot.org

Community Channels: Discord, Twitter

Resources and Deeper Dives:

• Official Website: Kakarot

• Github Repositories:

  • Kakarot Repositories

  • RPC Layer:

    • RPC Server

  • Core EVM written in Cairo:

    • Cairo Zero Core EVM (in production for testnet)

    • Cairo Core EVM

  • Official Ethereum Foundation test suite implementation:

    • ef-tests

  • Documentation repository:

    • kakarot-docs

  • Kakarot zkEVM Talks playlist

Contract Address Book

• WETH: 0x1c106f8AF138eF67Ef08dDbEc5b6B8C4B09c33dc

• 🚧 Upcoming Contract Addresses:

  • AMMs

  • USDc

  • USDt

  • WBTC

  • Oracles

This guide should help you get started and navigate the Kakarot Testnet effectively. Be sure to check the community channels and resources for updates and support.

Kakarot Fundraising Journey

KAKAROT is backed by some top Angels and Investors. Kakarot raised $1M in Pre-Seed funding let by Starkware & Lambda Ventures, other notable Angels were Vitalik Buterin, Nicolas Bacca (Co-founder of ledger), & Rand Hindi

Conclusion

In conclusion, Kakarot zkEVM presents a promising Ethereum scalability and innovation future. With its Ethereum-compatible rollup architecture built in Cairo, Kakarot aims to provide a seamless experience for both users and developers, leveraging familiar tools and interfaces.

The project’s commitment to passing the Ethereum Foundation test suite and its focus on user-centric features like account abstraction demonstrates its dedication to providing a robust and user-friendly platform.