Introducing Tsuko: Revolutionizing Paymaster Technology on zkSync

This announcement is part of our four-part blog series about the paymaster on the ZKsync network. Remember our first blog post where we unfolded the essence of Paymaster on ZKsync? If you're new here or need a quick refresher, give it a read to fully grasp the magic of Tsuko!

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Hello txCitizens!

Our journey over the past few months has been nothing short of a rollercoaster of innovation, and we can't wait to dive into the details with you. We're absolutely thrilled to announce our brand-new project!

Say hello to Tsuko, now live and ready to rock the blockchain world! 🎉🥳

To better understand why we built Tsuko, we will take a deeper look at the current challenges with building a paymaster, integrating it into your app, customizing it, and putting it into production. We'll also shine a spotlight on Tsuko’s standout features and why they're game-changers!

How to Build a Paymaster on ZKsync?

Well, with code, obviously! 😉

As we pointed out in part one blog, paymaster is a smart contract, which means that we need to implement some logic into it. What kind of logic you ask? Basically any. Let us explain:

We explained earlier in part one blog that every time you create a paymaster, you can deploy it, and connect a specific DApp with it. ZKsync then ensures that you transaction goes “through” the paymaster.

But what does paymaster actually do? This is where the creativity of web3 developers comes into play! Most obvious use cases are:

1. 1. Paying fees instead of a user - Sponsored paymaster, or
2. 2. Enabling user to pay their gas fees in ERC20 tokens - ERC20 Paymaster

But no matter what your use case is, it needs to be “coded” into the paymaster logic. This process involves a blend of coding calculations, performing validations, and initializing transactions – all crucial for creating a functional paymaster.

Kudos to Matter Labs, the brains behind ZKsync, for providing thorough documentation and practical examples to guide you step-by-step.

The only problem is: the documentation does not cover all the possible cases. And that's intentional. Matter Labs offers a framework, but the real scope for innovation lies in the areas not explicitly covered. The potential to build your paymaster is as limitless as your imagination!

So in order to create something specialized to your need, you have to roll up your sleeves and write some lines of code + few other steps in order to put your paymaster with your DApp in the production.

Let's break down the steps:

1. 1. First, if you are someone who just discovered ZKsync and who is not familiar with the concept of paymaster, you have to spend some time to understand it

1. 2. Then, you have to go over the provided documentation and examples and check how you can actually code basic paymaster types

1. 3. After that, you need to figure out what of those examples are useful in your specific case and then modify your code in order to support the differences

1. 4. Then you code, and delete it, but write it again, then rewrite it ← repeat for some time until you are finally satisfied

1. 5. Next, your code needs to be carefully checked, validated, then audited and then finally deployed on ZKsync testnet / mainnet

1. 6. Only after all of this, you have your fresh new paymaster address that you can use and connect with the DApp you are building

1. 7. Now you are ready to reap the fruits of your work, by using those amazing paymaster benefits!

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What we described above are the normal, usual and currently the only possible ways of building a paymaster on zkSync. This process, while exciting, can be time-intensive, ranging from a few days for ZKsync veterans to weeks or months for new explorers.

But what if there is a other, faster, easier, more efficient and, really important, more secure way of doing it? 🤔

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In our team when creating something, we like to start by imagining how someone from the future is coming back, looking at our current processes and say: “Wait, you are still building like that?! Aah, I remember the difficulties.” And then presenting the alternative they use in their “advanced” future.

Well, our goal is to bring that future now!

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Tsuko - Transforming weeks of work into minutes

Enter Tsuko – our new revolutionary product on txSync, that simplifies the entire process of building, deploying, and customizing a paymaster on ZKsync with just a few clicks!

With Tsuko, we simplified almost all of previously described steps on how to build a paymaster into an easy-to-use, intuitive interface. Just a few clicks, some checkbox selections, and voilà – your personalized paymaster is ready in minutes! 😎

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To build a basic paymaster using our product, all you need to do is the following:

1. Go to Tsuko website

2. Connect and verify your wallet

3. Name your paymaster

4. Choose between Sponsored or ERC20 paymaster types.

e.g. If you chose ERC20 type, you need to select your ERC20 token to be used in this paymaster

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5. Hit “Create Paymaster” and watch the magic happen

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And that’s it! You now have a paymaster address which is ready to be used by any DApp on zkSync.

The beauty of Tsuko lies in its versatility.

Create not just one, but a whole collection of paymasters, each a standalone smart contract. From the moment of creation, you're in full control – which means that only you can withdraw ETH/ERC20 funds from that contract.

Each paymaster you create has its own page where you can see its balance in ETH (and ERC20 token depending of the type), its address, and at the end, examples of how to add it to your DApp.

But wait, it gets even better. Linking your new paymaster to your blockchain application is a breeze - just 5 lines of code and you're set. It's all about making blockchain technology accessible, efficient, and user-friendly. 🔥

The power of txTsuko

Each Paymaster has two additional pages:

1. 1. Monitoring page: Once your paymaster is live, we instantly activate transaction monitoring. Every transaction that includes your paymaster address is tracked and displayed on your dashboard in real-time. You'll see total and individual transactions, ETH spent on gas fees, and user counts.

This level of monitoring offers a powerful insight into how your paymaster is being used. It's not just about numbers; it's about understanding user behaviors, identifying usage patterns, and gaining a deeper understanding of how it interacts with its users! These insights are invaluable, helping you make informed decisions about your app, particularly regarding how it utilizes and connects with its paymaster.

We believe that going forward, as we add more advanced tracking, monitoring part of Tsuko will be one of the most valuable parts of its service!

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2. 2. Extension page: we see this as a groundbreaking development within the ZKsync ecosystem. That’s why we're dedicating an entire blog post to dive into the details of feature called Extension

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👉 Jump in to this blog post about Tsuko extensions here.

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*This article is also published on txFusion Medium channel.