Author: Deep Tide TechFlow

Deep Tide Introduction: As the general-purpose Layer 2 track on Ethereum finds itself in the deep waters of liquidity competition and fee battles, Scroll, as a leading representative of zkEVM, has taken the lead in presenting a radical route restructuring plan. On November 4, 2026, Beijing time, the Scroll DAO forum officially announced the protocol upgrade proposal, planning to fully transform the existing general network into a permissioned application-specific network focused on privacy artificial intelligence (AI), and migrate the governance token SCR back to the Ethereum mainnet for governance and collateral anchoring. This significant change marks the evolution of mainstream Layer 2 projects from general-purpose scaling to sovereign application-specific networks.

What Specific Products Will the New Architecture Support

The new network architecture aims to provide foundational support for an integrated artificial intelligence product stack, including terminal interaction tool Compass, developer interface Compass API, network infrastructure CENO, as well as native assets USX and SCR. According to the official proposal on the Scroll DAO forum, the entire protocol will focus on servicing privacy data interactions, on-chain security credential custody, and automated agent workflows.

On the computational and resource allocation level, after the network transforms into a permissioned structure, it will focus on on-chain payment settlement and distributed computing power coordination. Privacy-preserving computation requires a large number of zero-knowledge proof generations, and the specialized architecture allows the protocol layer to set access thresholds for validating nodes, avoiding the network congestion common in open public chains that can cause latency interference with high-concurrency agent requests, ensuring deterministic execution of high-value reasoning tasks.

What Adjustments Are Made to the SCR Token Mechanism

In terms of token economics, according to the proposal details disclosed by the Scroll DAO forum, the total supply of SCR will remain at 1 billion unchanged, and the distribution structure will not be adjusted. After the token migrates to the Ethereum mainnet, it will continue to perform its core governance functions, with the governance applicability directly extending to core system parameter settings of the ecosystem’s native asset USX.

In addition to expanded voting rights, SCR has added economic collateral attributes in the new system. In the proposal planning, this token will serve as the staking asset for validator nodes and commitments of certain high-risk protocols. When high-value cross-domain settlement or privacy computing delegations occur between agents, validators must stake and lock corresponding amounts of SCR, securing the decentralized execution environment through on-chain forfeiture mechanisms to ensure safety and trust.

The Path Choices and Cycle Span Behind the Protocol Transformation

• Network Access: General zkEVM is in an open public chain environment; privacy AI specialized network upgrades to a permissioned validating node network
• Business Focus: General zkEVM emphasizes general DeFi and multi-asset scaling; privacy AI specialized network focuses on privacy interactions, computing power coordination, and agent workflows
• Core Products: General zkEVM supports general EVM smart contracts; privacy AI specialized network supports Compass, Compass API, CENO, and USX
• SCR Deployment: General zkEVM is deployed on Layer 2 native contracts; privacy AI specialized network reverts to Ethereum mainnet contracts
• Empowerment Scenarios: General zkEVM is limited to basic governance voting; privacy AI specialized network governance expands to USX and serves as high-risk collateral and staking assets

Data shows that the Scroll mainnet was launched in October 2023, with the SCR token distribution completing in October 2024. As of the release of this proposal, the network has operated as a general Layer 2 solution for 37 months. Migrating the token contract back to the Ethereum mainnet is the first choice among mainstream Layer 2 projects to decouple governance foundations from execution environments, avoiding potential constraints on token liquidity caused by permissioned adjustments.

The upgrade proposal is currently still in the community forum announcement and discussion stage. The Scroll Foundation will subsequently organize official specifications based on community feedback and promote on-chain thermometer checks and formal smart contract voting procedures on the governance platform. The specific network upgrade and SCR cross-chain migration timeline will be announced after DAO voting decisions.