Scroll Startup Diligence Report
Proceed only to confirmatory diligence. A credible thesis would require proving that public network activity converts into durable, compliant company economics and that Scroll can maintain differentiated zkEVM performance/security in an intensely competitive L2 market while reducing centralization and regulatory risk.
Scroll Startup Diligence Report
Scroll appears to be an active Ethereum Layer 2 infrastructure company/network with meaningful public technical assets, institutional funding references, audited protocol components and visible ecosystem usage. However, investment diligence remains incomplete because company-level financials, cap table, token/equity economics, customer revenue, legal posture and management artifacts are not publicly available.
No public audited financial statements, revenue, ARR/fee income, cash, debt, burn, gross margin or runway were available.
Diligence request: Require full finance data room, audited statements, KPI pack, revenue bridge, cash/debt and budget-to-actuals.
Homepage and L2BEAT metrics are network/protocol signals and may include incentive-driven or low-value activity unrelated to company economics.
Diligence request: Reconcile transaction/usage cohorts to fee revenue, paid customers, retention and incentive-adjusted demand.
SCR/token distribution snippets, global network use, bridge functionality and crypto-market exposure require securities, sanctions/AML, consumer, tax and privacy analysis.
Diligence request: Obtain legal memoranda, compliance policies, geo/sanctions controls, regulatory correspondence and token-governance documentation.
Public sources differ on total funding and do not disclose preferences, token rights, treasury, investor rights or dilution.
Diligence request: Request financing documents, cap table, token treasury/vesting, side letters, debt and valuation support.
Scroll depends on complex smart contracts, execution nodes, prover systems, cross-domain messaging and upgrades; a defect could impair funds or network trust.
Diligence request: Commission independent architecture/security review, audit-remediation review, incident analysis and key-management assessment.
Docs and L2BEAT show timelocks, multisigs, security council and upgradable core contracts, creating governance/centralization risk until decentralization is validated.
Diligence request: Validate current on-chain permissions, signer controls, emergency powers, user disclosures and decentralization roadmap.
Scroll publishes ecosystem metrics and integrations but not top customers, revenue concentration, retention, bot filtering or partner economics.
Diligence request: Request top customer/dApp schedule, partner contracts, cohorts, NRR/churn and incentive-adjusted usage analysis.
Scroll competes with zk-rollups and adjacent L2s for developers, liquidity, integrations, incentives and mindshare.
Diligence request: Benchmark fees, uptime, finality, TVL, developer adoption, grants, win/loss and ecosystem quality versus major competitors.
Public funding and valuation references exist, but Scroll does not publicly disclose company financial statements, revenue, margin, cash, burn, debt, cap table, token treasury or tax positions.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
No audited financial statements, management accounts, AR aging, backlog or gross-profit breakdown were found in public sources; L2BEAT and homepage metrics are protocol/network signals rather than company financials.
| topic | public signal | status | required artifact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue / ARR / fee income | Protocol usage and fee mechanics are public; company revenue is not. | not_publicly_verifiable | Audited revenue, ARR/fee bridge and revenue-recognition memo. |
| Gross margin / proof costs | Scroll docs say proof generation is currently subsidized and future decentralized prover incentives are needed. | partially_verified | Proof/sequencer cost model, cloud/hardware costs and gross margin bridge. |
| Cash, burn and runway | No public cash/debt/burn schedule. | not_publicly_verifiable | Cash, debt, treasury, burn, runway and budget-to-actuals. |
| Tax and accounting | No public tax positions or accounting policy details beyond fee mechanics. | not_publicly_verifiable | Tax returns, NOLs, transfer pricing and accounting policies. |
partially verified confidence: medium
Public growth drivers include lower fees, EVM compatibility, ecosystem usage and developer adoption; forecast quality, pricing, proof-cost subsidy, capex/working capital and external financing assumptions are private.
partially verified confidence: medium
The Block and Tracxn provide public financing anchors, but current shares, investor holdings, preferences, token rights, debt and off-balance-sheet liabilities are not public.
| date | event | amount or valuation | source | diligence readout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-04-21 | Series A per Tracxn | $30M | Tracxn | Public database signal; verify primary documents. |
| 2023-03-06 | New funding round / Series B | $50M | The Block and Tracxn | Investor roster is public; structure and rights are private. |
| 2023-03-06 | Headline valuation reference | $1.8B | The Block source; Tracxn database | Partially verified; The Block says Scroll declined valuation/round-structure comment. |
| current | Current cap table, token/equity rights and treasury | not_publicly_verifiable | Company data-room request | Cannot underwrite without primary records. |
Public total funding differs by source: $80M in Tracxn vs $83M in The Block/Cryptopolitan-style coverage.
partially verified confidence: medium
Public sources support financing-history screening but not tax positions, accounting policies or the current valuation basis.
Scroll offers an Ethereum-aligned zkEVM Layer 2, bridge, developer ecosystem and protocol infrastructure; product quality appears technically credible but needs independent operating, reliability and monetization validation.
partially verified confidence: medium
Scroll publicly describes a Layer 2 network built on Ethereum, bridge/cross-domain messaging, EVM-compatible developer experience, rollup/proving system, fee model and ecosystem integrations.
| component | public description | evidence | diligence focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| zkEVM Layer 2 network | Native zkEVM Layer 2 for Ethereum with EVM compatibility. | Homepage and docs | Performance, compatibility, uptime and monetization. |
| Settlement / rollup contracts | Ethereum settlement layer verifies validity proofs and supports bridge/rollup contracts. | Architecture docs | Contract security, upgrade controls and legal exposure. |
| Bridge / cross-domain messaging | Arbitrary message passing and token transfers between L1 and L2. | Bridge docs | Bridge volume, incident history, emergency controls and withdrawal UX. |
| Prover / zkVM pipeline | Public prover repositories and zkVM migration evidence. | GitHub READMEs | Proof cost, decentralization, audits and circuit/prover regressions. |
| claim | supporting public evidence | verification status | next validation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% EVM-compatible | Homepage and developer docs. | partially_verified | Run compatibility/regression test suite and review incidents. |
| <$0.005 gas fees | Homepage and L2BEAT cost metrics. | partially_verified | Benchmark live fees by transaction class and volatility. |
| Security-first / audited protocol | Audit and bug bounty docs. | verified for public artifacts | Review full audit findings, remediation and incident history. |
| Fast block feedback | Building-on-Scroll docs state Scroll blocks are minted every 3 seconds. | partially_verified | Validate block time, reorg/finality and downtime metrics. |
Public evidence shows developer/dApp ecosystem signals, but customer economics, concentration, retention and contracts are private.
partially verified confidence: medium
Scroll publishes ecosystem logos and metrics but not top 15 customers/dApps by revenue, transaction volume, take rate or contract status.
| signal | value or example | source | limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| DApps built | 100+ | Scroll homepage | Company-published; no revenue/retention detail. |
| Total transactions | 110M+ | Scroll homepage | May include low-value/incentivized activity; no cohort quality. |
| Active builders | 700+ | Scroll homepage | Definition not disclosed. |
| Ecosystem integrations | DEXs, bridges, lending, staking protocols | Developer ecosystem docs | Contracts/economics not disclosed. |
| Network activity snapshot | 16.73K past-day ops and 0.19 UOPS | L2BEAT | One external snapshot; not revenue. |
| topic | missing information | why it matters | request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top dApps/customers | Top 15 by revenue/usage and product/application. | Determines concentration and strategic dependency. | Top-customer schedule and contract metadata. |
| Usage quality | Unique active wallets, bot/incentive filters and retention cohorts. | Separates durable demand from campaigns/airdrops. | Cohort dashboards and data definitions. |
| Strategic relationships | Grant, co-marketing and revenue-share economics. | Identifies contingent liabilities and CAC. | Partner/grant contract schedule. |
| Suppliers | Cloud/RPC/prover/infra/auditor spend and SLAs. | Assesses operational and margin risk. | Top supplier schedule and SLAs. |
Mixed-unit chart is for scale context, not direct metric comparison.
partially verified confidence: medium
Public docs list ecosystem integrations with DEXs, bridges, lending and liquid staking protocols, but contribution economics and marketing agreements are not public.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
No public revenue by customer or concentration disclosure was located.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
No public severed customer, partner or supplier relationship schedule was found.
partially verified confidence: low
Scroll likely depends on Ethereum L1, RPC/infrastructure providers, cloud/hosting, security auditors and exchange/ecosystem partners, but supplier spend and agreements are private.
Scroll competes in a crowded Ethereum scaling market against other zk-rollups and adjacent optimistic rollups; defensibility depends on developer adoption, security, costs, decentralization and ecosystem liquidity.
partially verified confidence: medium
Public sources identify Scroll among Ethereum scaling networks using zk-rollups, competing with Polygon, StarkWare/Starknet, Matter Labs/zkSync and adjacent L2s such as Arbitrum, Optimism and Linea.
| company or network | segment | basis of competition | diligence question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scroll | zkEVM / Ethereum L2 | EVM compatibility, security, cost, ecosystem. | Can Scroll convert developer adoption into sustainable economics? |
| Matter Labs / zkSync | zk-rollup / zkEVM adjacency | ZK scaling, developer ecosystem and liquidity. | How does Scroll win dApps/users versus zkSync? |
| StarkWare / Starknet | ZK rollup | ZK performance, ecosystem and language/tooling tradeoffs. | Does Scroll EVM compatibility offset Starknet ecosystem depth? |
| Polygon zkEVM / Polygon CDK | ZK / appchain tooling | Distribution, developer tooling and ecosystem partnerships. | Can Scroll defend against larger ecosystem distribution? |
| Arbitrum / Optimism / Linea | Adjacent Ethereum L2s | Liquidity, developer adoption, reliability and incentives. | How much demand is technology-specific versus liquidity/incentive driven? |
Competitor economics, market share and win/loss require independent benchmarking.
| dimension | public strength | vulnerability | evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer experience | EVM bytecode/tooling compatibility. | Compatibility must be proven across edge cases and upgrades. | Homepage/docs/zkEVM repos. |
| Security | Multiple audit firms and bug bounties. | Audits do not guarantee absence of vulnerabilities. | Security docs. |
| Cost/performance | <$0.005 gas claim and L2BEAT cost visibility. | L1 data/proof cost volatility and subsidy risk. | Homepage, L2BEAT, fee docs. |
| Distribution | Community, docs, integrations and token distribution snippets. | Incentive-driven usage may fade; sales productivity is unknown. | Docs/homepage/token snippets. |
Qualitative map based on public positioning, not measured market share.
Scroll uses developer-led distribution, open-source/docs/community, ecosystem integrations and token/exchange distribution signals; formal sales productivity, pipeline and budget capacity are private.
partially verified confidence: medium
Scroll positions as secure, performant, Ethereum-compatible infrastructure for the open economy, with distribution through docs, Discord, GitHub, ecosystem integrations and token-related public materials.
| channel | public evidence | likely role | open question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer docs / GitHub | Docs invite builders; GitHub org has 152 repos. | Developer acquisition and trust. | Conversion to active/paid usage. |
| Community / Discord | Docs cite Discord community over 500,000 members. | Community support and awareness. | Engagement quality and CAC. |
| Ecosystem integrations | DEX/bridge/lending integrations and Dune dashboards. | Liquidity and use-case expansion. | Partner economics and retention. |
| Token/exchange distribution | Search snippets reference SCR tokenomics and Binance allocation. | Global distribution and governance narrative. | Regulatory, treasury and incentive quality. |
| area | public signal | gap | request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pipeline | Ecosystem/community signals. | No CRM/pipeline data. | CRM export and funnel conversion. |
| Sales productivity | No public sales model. | No quota/CAC/payback. | Sales comp, quota attainment, CAC and payback. |
| Grants/incentives | Ecosystem and token distribution signals. | No grant ROI or liability schedule. | Grant, incentive and token-distribution schedule. |
| Budget capacity | Funding history but no cash/burn. | Runway unknown. | Marketing budget, burn and runway. |
Counts are from different definitions and should not be interpreted as conversion rates.
partially verified confidence: low
Major-customer status, pipeline and future growth with key accounts are not publicly verifiable; public logos/integrations require validation.
partially verified confidence: medium
New business appears developer/ecosystem-led rather than conventional enterprise sales; public evidence includes docs, GitHub, Discord, Dune dashboards and ecosystem integrations.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
No public sales compensation, quota, sales-cycle or hiring plan was found.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
Budget capacity cannot be assessed without cash, burn, token treasury and forecast data.
Scroll has strong public R&D evidence across protocol code, prover infrastructure, zkEVM circuits, docs, audits and upgrade history; technical debt, cost of development and roadmap execution need private validation.
verified confidence: high
GitHub and docs show protocol, prover, zkEVM, contracts, execution-node and documentation workstreams, but reporting lines, budget, hiring and retention are private.
| repository | public metric | role | diligence focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| scroll-tech/scroll | 741 stars / 631 forks; updated 2026-05-19 | Core monorepo including contracts, node and prover components. | Release process, audit coverage, maintainability. |
| scroll-tech/scroll-prover | 683 stars / 371 forks; archived; updated 2026-05-20 | Legacy/mainnet prover client/coordinator; migrated to zkVM. | Migration risk and residual dependencies. |
| scroll-tech/zkevm-circuits | 935 stars / 387 forks; archived; updated 2026-04-01 | zkEVM circuits used in mainnet before zkVM migration. | Compatibility and audit/remediation history. |
| scroll-tech/scroll-documentation | 671 stars / 193 forks; updated 2026-05-18 | Developer and protocol documentation. | Documentation accuracy and release synchronization. |
GitHub stars/forks are public signals, not measures of code quality.
| item | public evidence | risk | request |
|---|---|---|---|
| zkVM migration | scroll-prover and zkevm-circuits note Apr 2025 migration. | Migration regressions, proof cost and archived dependency risk. | Migration plan, test/audit evidence and performance benchmarks. |
| Prover decentralization economics | Fee docs say proof generation currently subsidized and future incentives needed. | Unit economics may worsen if proof costs are passed to users. | Prover incentive and cost model. |
| Enforced transactions | Bridge docs say not yet enabled and expected in future upgrades. | Censorship-resistance/user-exit capabilities incomplete. | Roadmap, audit and activation criteria. |
| Upgradeable protocol governance | Docs and L2BEAT describe timelocks/security council/upgradability. | Centralized emergency powers and governance trust assumptions. | Governance charter, key-management and emergency playbooks. |
Stars are popularity signals, not engineering quality metrics.
partially verified confidence: medium
Public roadmap/pipeline signals include zkVM migration, future decentralized prover incentives, enforced transactions not yet enabled and continuing protocol upgrades; implementation cost and risk remain high.
Mixed metrics are shown for diligence context only.
Public founder/team signals exist, including founders named by public profiles and The Block coverage of planned team growth, but formal org chart, headcount, compensation and turnover are private.
partially verified confidence: low
No formal organization chart was found publicly; public governance materials show protocol control roles such as multisigs, timelocks and security council, but not company reporting lines.
| topic | public signal | status | follow up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Founders | Public snippets identify Sandy Peng, Ye Zhang and Haichen Shen. | partially_verified | Confirm bios, roles, equity and references. |
| Team size | The Block reported around 60 team members with planned growth to nearly 100 in 2023. | partially_verified | Current HRIS by function/location. |
| Governance operators | L2BEAT identifies security council/multisig/timelock roles. | partially_verified | Map legal/company roles to protocol permissions. |
| Board/advisors | Not publicly verified in this run. | not_publicly_verifiable | Board minutes, observers and advisory agreements. |
| area | public status | risk | request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Org chart | Not public. | Accountability/key-person gaps. | Current and projected org chart. |
| Compensation/benefits | Not public. | Retention, dilution and compliance risk. | Compensation bands, benefits and employment agreements. |
| Equity/token incentives | Token snippets public; employee grants not public. | Misaligned incentives and unmodeled dilution. | Equity/token incentive plans and vesting. |
| Turnover/employee relations | Not public. | Execution disruption and undisclosed claims. | Two-year attrition and HR/legal claims schedule. |
This is a public-role map, not a verified reporting org chart.
partially verified confidence: medium
The Block reported around 60 employees in March 2023 with plans to grow toward nearly 100; current headcount by function/location is not public.
partially verified confidence: medium
Public snippets identify founders Sandy Peng, Ye Zhang and Haichen Shen; full biographies, tenure, equity incentives and succession plans require company materials.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
Compensation, employment agreements and benefit plans are not public.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
Equity/token incentive plans are not public.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
No public employee-relations issue schedule was found.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
Turnover and retention data are not public.
Scroll has visible public legal/security artifacts, open-source licenses, terms/privacy links, audits, bug bounties and governance/upgradability documentation; counsel-led legal, IP, regulatory and insurance diligence remains critical.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
Pending lawsuits against Scroll were not verified through docket artifacts in this public-source run.
| legal area | public signal | risk | counsel request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Litigation | No docket artifact reviewed. | Unknown claims or threatened disputes. | Docket search and litigation schedule. |
| Token/securities | Public SCR/token snippets and governance materials. | Securities, commodities, consumer and tax classification. | Token legal memoranda and regulatory correspondence. |
| Sanctions/AML/money transmission | Global permissionless network and bridge/cross-domain messaging. | Jurisdictional compliance exposure. | Compliance program, geo-blocking and AML/sanctions controls. |
| Insurance | No policies reviewed. | Uninsured cyber, smart-contract, D&O or E&O losses. | Policy schedule and claims history. |
| Material contracts | Funding, ecosystem and supplier signals but no contracts. | Undisclosed exclusivity, indemnity, token/grant liabilities. | Material contract schedule. |
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
Pending lawsuits initiated by Scroll were not verified through docket artifacts in this run.
partially verified confidence: low
Environmental/safety exposure appears lower than asset-heavy industries, but workplace, cybersecurity, privacy, token and crypto compliance exposure needs counsel review.
partially verified confidence: medium
Public repositories disclose open-source code and licenses such as MIT and dual MIT/Apache in key repositories, but IP assignments and full dependency/license compliance are private.
| artifact | public evidence | diligence status | next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audits | Trail of Bits, OpenZeppelin, Zellic, KALOS audit references. | public artifact exists | Review full reports and remediation. |
| Bug bounty | Immunefi and Remedy programs with critical rewards up to $1M. | public artifact exists | Review submissions, payouts and SLA. |
| Open-source licenses | scroll-prover dual MIT/Apache; core repos public. | partially verified | Run full license/SBOM scan and IP assignment review. |
| Governance/upgrades | Two-week timelock and L1/L2 multisig/timelock addresses in docs; L2BEAT describes upgradability. | partially verified | Review key management, emergency powers and user disclosures. |
Security controls reduce but do not eliminate protocol risk.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
Insurance coverage and exclusions are not public.
not publicly verifiable confidence: low
Material customer, supplier, investor, exchange, cloud, auditor, grant and partner contracts are not public.
partially verified confidence: low
No regulatory agency problem schedule was available. Token/network operations, global users, potential exchange distribution and crypto compliance require specialist legal review.
| ID | Claim | Status | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| EC-001 | Scroll publicly positions itself as a native zkEVM Layer 2 for Ethereum and publishes claims including 100% EVM compatibility, <$0.005 gas fees, 100+ dApps, 110M+ transactions and 700+ active builders. | partially verified medium | SRC-001 |
| EC-002 | Scroll documentation describes a three-layer protocol architecture: Ethereum settlement, sequencing and proving. | verified high | SRC-002 |
| EC-003 | The scroll-tech/scroll README describes Scroll as a zkRollup-based Layer 2 with bytecode-equivalent zkEVM and a monorepo spanning contracts, rollup node and prover components. | verified high | SRC-003 |
| EC-004 | The Block reported Scroll raised $50M on March 6, 2023; named investors; cited a $1.8B valuation source; and stated prior rounds brought total funding to $83M, while Scroll declined valuation/round-structure comment. | partially verified medium | SRC-004 |
| EC-005 | Tracxn lists Scroll funding rounds including $30M Series A on Apr 21, 2022 and $50M Series B on Mar 6, 2023, total funding of $80M and a $1.8B valuation as of Mar 6, 2023. | partially verified medium | SRC-005 |
| EC-006 | L2BEAT reports active Scroll protocol metrics including 0.19 past-day UOPS, 16.73K past-day ops, max UOPS 20.75 on 2024-10-22, $57.16K total L2 Ethereum cost over 2025-05-19 to 2026-05-19, $156.17 average cost/day and 19.27 GiB data posted. | verified high | SRC-006 |
| EC-007 | Scroll documents multiple independent audits and public bug bounties, including critical vulnerability rewards up to $1,000,000. | verified high | SRC-007 |
| EC-008 | Scroll fees combine L2 execution fees and L1 data fees; all transaction fees flow to L2ScrollFeeVault; proof generation and L1 proof verification are currently subsidized and future prover incentives need protocol incorporation. | verified high | SRC-008 |
| EC-009 | Scroll developer docs state code, dependencies and tooling work out of the box due to EVM bytecode compatibility; blocks are minted every 3 seconds; mainnet is live; and Discord community exceeds 500,000 members. | partially verified medium | SRC-009 |
| EC-010 | Scroll developer ecosystem docs identify DEX, bridge, lending and staking integrations and link to Dune/DeFiLlama data sources. | partially verified medium | SRC-010 |
| EC-011 | The scroll-tech GitHub organization had 152 public repositories in this run; top repositories included contribute-to-scroll, zkevm-circuits, scroll, scroll-prover and scroll-documentation by stars. | verified high | SRC-011 |
| EC-012 | scroll-prover README states mainnet used v0.10.3 before migration to a zkVM solution in April 2025, and the repository is dual MIT/Apache licensed. | verified high | SRC-012 |
| EC-013 | zkevm-circuits README states it was used in Scroll Mainnet, had over 99.5% EVM test compatibility and was migrated to zkVM in April 2025. | verified high | SRC-013 |
| EC-014 | Scroll upgrade docs identify L1/L2 Scroll multisig and timelock contracts and state upgrades execute after a two-week timelock period. | verified high | SRC-014 |
| EC-015 | L2BEAT describes Scroll core contracts as upgradable by ProxyAdmin controlled through ScrollOwner/security council/timelocks, and identifies governance actors and permissions. | verified high | SRC-006 |
| EC-016 | Scroll bridge docs state arbitrary message passing enables token transfers and dApp communication between L1 and L2; enforced transactions are not yet enabled and are expected in future upgrades. | verified high | SRC-015 |
| EC-017 | Public profile/search snippets identify Scroll founders as Sandy Peng, Ye Zhang and Haichen Shen. | partially verified medium | SRC-016SRC-004 |
| EC-018 | Public search snippets and token pages reference SCR tokenomics, including 1B total supply, airdrop allocations and Binance Launchpool/pre-market distribution snippets, but source quality is mixed. | partially verified low | SRC-017 |
| EC-019 | Core private diligence materials were not available publicly, including financials, cap table, customer revenue, contracts, legal schedule, insurance, HR and full security/incident artifacts. | not publicly verifiable high | SRC-019 |
| EC-020 | The Block places Scroll in a competitive field of Ethereum scaling networks using zk-rollups, including Polygon, StarkWare and Matter Labs. | verified medium | SRC-004 |
This report is a public-evidence diligence snapshot, not investment advice. Important financial, legal, technical, and contractual facts remain non-public and should be verified directly with management and primary documents before any investment decision.