Author: Shenchao TechFlow
DeepChaohao Summary: As the Ethereum general-purpose Layer 2赛道 sinks deeper into liquidity overcompetition and fee wars, Scroll, a leading zkEVM representative, has率先 unveiled an aggressive roadmap restructuring. On November 4, 2026, Beijing Time, the Scroll DAO forum officially announced a protocol upgrade proposal to transition the existing general-purpose network into a permissioned application-specific network focused on privacy-preserving AI, while migrating the governance token SCR back to the Ethereum mainnet for governance and staking anchoring. This major shift marks the evolution of mainstream Layer 2 projects from general-purpose scaling toward sovereign, application-specific networks.
What specific products will the new architecture support?
The new network architecture is designed to provide foundational support for an integrated AI product stack, including the end-user interaction tool Compass, the developer interface Compass API, the network infrastructure CENO, and the native assets USX and SCR. In line with the technical roadmap outlined in Scroll DAO's official forum proposal, the entire protocol will focus on privacy-preserving data interactions, on-chain secure credential custody, and automated agent workflows.
At the computation and resource allocation level, after transitioning to a permissioned structure, the network focuses on on-chain payment settlement and distributed compute coordination. Privacy-preserving computation requires extensive generation of zero-knowledge proofs; the dedicated architecture allows the protocol layer to establish access controls for verification nodes, preventing network congestion common in open public blockchains from causing delays or interference with high-concurrency agent requests, ensuring deterministic execution of high-value inference tasks.
What adjustments have been made to the SCR token mechanism?
In terms of tokenomics, according to the proposal details disclosed by the Scroll DAO forum, the total supply of SCR remains at 1 billion, and the allocation structure has not been adjusted. After the token migration to the Ethereum mainnet, it will continue to serve as the core governance token, with governance scope directly extending to the core system parameters of the ecosystem-native asset USX.
In addition to expanded voting rights, SCR has been endowed with an economic staking attribute within the new system. According to the proposal, this token will serve as collateral for running validator nodes and for participating in certain high-risk protocol commitments. When high-value cross-domain settlements or privacy computation delegations occur between agents, validators must lock up a corresponding amount of SCR as collateral, ensuring the security and trustworthiness of the decentralized execution environment through on-chain slashing mechanisms.
Path choices and cycle duration behind the protocol transition
- Network Access: General-purpose zkEVM operates in an open public chain environment; Privacy AI private network upgraded to a permissioned validation node network.
- Focus areas: General-purpose zkEVM emphasizes universal DeFi and multi-asset scaling; Privacy AI private network focuses on private interactions, compute coordination, and agent workflows.
- Core products: Universal zkEVM supports general EVM smart contracts; private AI network supports Compass, Compass API, CENO, and USX
- SCR deployment: General-purpose zkEVM deployed on Layer 2 native contracts; privacy AI private network migrated back to Ethereum mainnet contracts
- Empowerment scenario: General zkEVM is limited to basic governance voting; private AI dedicated network governance expands to USX and serves as a high-risk collateral and staking asset
Data shows that the Scroll mainnet launched in October 2023, and the SCR token distribution was completed in October 2024. As of the release of this proposal, the network has operated for 37 months as a general-purpose Layer 2 solution. Migrating the token contract back to the Ethereum mainnet marks the first such move among major Layer 2 projects to decouple its governance foundation from its execution environment, avoiding potential constraints on token liquidity from permission-based adjustments.
This upgrade proposal is currently in the community forum announcement and discussion phase. The Scroll Foundation will subsequently consolidate the official specifications based on community feedback and proceed with on-chain thermometer checks and formal smart contract voting on the governance platform. The specific network upgrade and SCR cross-chain migration schedule will be announced separately after DAO voting.