Ethereum ETH -2.89%’s scalability has been a subject of dialogue for years, and options to this problem have been eagerly anticipated. Polygon MATIC -5.06%, a outstanding participant within the Ethereum ecosystem, has not too long ago unveiled a set of instruments that would revolutionize how builders work together with Ethereum’s Layer 2 (L2).
Polygon’s Chain Growth Package (CDK) is an open-source codebase that permits builders to craft their very own customizable layer 2 chains utilizing Polygon’s zero-knowledge (ZK) expertise. These chains are designed to interconnect by way of a ZK-powered bridge, making certain interoperability between every chain. The overarching imaginative and prescient is to create what Polygon phrases the “Worth Layer,” a unified platform the place worth transactions are as seamless as information transfers on the web.
Jordi Baylina, the technical lead for Polygon Hermez zkEVM, highlighted the motivation behind these instruments. Baylina said that builders ought to have the power to effortlessly and seamlessly provoke ZK-supported second layers on Ethereum and tailor them to the particular wants of their tasks. A major characteristic of the Polygon CDK is its functionality to mechanically faucet into the liquidity of all Polygon chains and the broader Ethereum ecosystem. This ensures scalability on demand with out fragmenting liquidity.
The Ethereum neighborhood has witnessed the rise of a number of layer 2 options, similar to Matter Labs’ zkSync and Starkware’s Starknet, which have launched their ZK-powered toolkits for builders. These toolkits empower builders to assemble their chains. Polygon’s transfer is in step with this development, providing instruments that not solely scale Ethereum but in addition combine zero-knowledge cryptography as a elementary element of its technological roadmap.
Polygon’s dedication to innovation doesn’t cease there. The corporate has additionally launched a toolkit for builders to create application-specific chains, termed “Supernets.” Nonetheless, the emphasis is now on the CDK, given its utilization of ZK proofs. The corporate believes that each one present Supernets can transition to the superior ZK expertise of Polygon.
The broader Ethereum neighborhood has been actively exploring the potential of zkEVMs (zero-knowledge Ethereum Digital Machines). These are digital machines that may execute the identical programming languages or bytecode because the Ethereum Digital Machine (EVM) and validate this code utilizing zero-knowledge proofs. These cryptographic proofs confirm information with out revealing any specifics in regards to the information itself. Over the previous 12 months, a number of Ethereum scaling tasks, together with zkSync, Polygon, and Scroll, have introduced important developments of their zkEVM implementations. These have been launched in early alpha phases and performance as unbiased Layer-2 blockchains.
