Polygon co-founder proposes zkEVM ‘validium’ improve to enhance safety

by Jeremy

Polygon co-founder Mihailo Bjelic has proposed upgrading the Polygon proof-of-stake (PoS) community to a “zkEVM validium” model, based on a June 20 discussion board submit. If the improve is applied, the brand new model will depend on zero-knowledge proofs to extend safety.

Polygon PoS is an Ethereum scaling answer that has over $900 million in complete worth locked inside its contracts and does over 2 million transactions per day. It was first launched in 2019. In March, the Polygon crew launched a second community, Polygon zkEVM, that makes use of zero-knowledge proof rollups to scale Ethereum.

Within the June 20 submit, Bjelic proposed to additionally improve the outdated PoS community to a zkEVM — or zero-knowledge Ethereum Digital Machine — model, making each networks depend on zero-knowledge proofs. Nevertheless, in contrast to the community that simply launched in March, the brand new model of Polygon PoS won’t be a “rollup,” Bjelic acknowledged. In different phrases, it won’t retailer compressed transaction knowledge on Ethereum. As a substitute, it is going to be a “validium” that shops solely validation proofs on layer 1, whereas the precise transaction knowledge will likely be stored on a separate chain.

This compromise will enable Polygon PoS to have decrease transaction charges than Polygon zkEVM. It is going to additionally improve the safety of Polygon PoS, since it can enable the community to inherit Ethereum’s safety, the co-founder concluded.

Associated: Why ZK-rollups want knowledge availability

As soon as the improve is applied, Polygon zkEVM could also be used for high-value transactions the place safety is of the utmost significance, whereas Polygon PoS might grow to be the community for gaming and social media fans, Bjelic urged, stating:

“Upgraded Polygon PoS (zkEVM validium) would provide very excessive scalability and really low charges, with the tradeoff of storing transaction knowledge regionally as an alternative of on Ethereum. It might be a fantastic match for functions which have excessive transaction quantity and require low transaction charges, e.g. Web3 gaming and social.”

The Polygon co-founder provided a timeline for when he thought the improve could possibly be applied, stating that his casual proposal could possibly be changed into a proper Polygon Enchancment Proposal by November and applied on mainnet someday between February and March 2024.

The launch of Polygon zkEVM and upgrading of Polygon PoS is a part of a grand plan by the crew to create a “Supernet” uniting many various application-specific chains. The devs name this mission “Polygon 2.0.”

The native coin of the Polygon ecosystem, known as “MATIC,” was delisted by eToro on June 13 after the USA Securities and Trade Fee claimed that it had been bought as an unregistered safety. The Polygon crew has denied that its fundraising violated any U.S. legal guidelines.