Polygon Announces Beta Launch of Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine

Polygon (MATIC), an Ethereum layer-2 solution provider, has finally revealed the much-anticipated scaling update that has been in the works for quite some time. The beta launch of its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) mainnet is scheduled for March 27.

Polygon said in a blog post that was published on February 14 that after three and a half months of "battle testing," the platform would be ready for the launch of the mainnet the following month.

It was first released as a testnet in December of the previous year and has since been marketed as "seamless scalability for Ethereum."

Since the beginning of this decade, work on the scaling technique known as zk-rollup has been continuously progressing. In that span of time, the Polygon zkEVM system has accomplished a number of noteworthy goals, as mentioned by the team.

Among them are the implementation of more than 5,000 smart contracts, the production of more than 75,000 zk-proofs, the creation of more than 84,000 wallets, and the completion of two public third-party audits.

The group said that maintaining a secure environment is their first concern, which is "why Polygon zkEVM has been subjected to a battery of testing and audits," as they put it.

This technique makes use of zero-knowledge proofs, which are cryptographic confirmations that, in the context of scaling, allow platforms to verify huge volumes of transaction data before bundling them up and confirming them on Ethereum.

There are other teams than Polygon that are toiling away at a zkEVM solution. Scaling provider zkSync is creating a solution that is comparable to EVM with its zkPorter product. This product moves key transaction data off-chain.

Scroll, another company that specializes in scaling solutions, is also developing a zkEVM solution in conjunction with the Ethereum Foundation's Privacy and Scaling Explorations group.

Additionally, the Ethereum Foundation is providing financing for a project known as Applied ZKP. This project's objective is to create a zk-rollup that is compatible with the EVM.

The group elaborated on the relevance of the technology by claiming that real EVM-equivalence indicates that Ethereum may be scaled "without having to settle for half-measures."

The easiest approach to grow Ethereum is to maintain the present Ethereum ecosystem, which means that the code, tools, and infrastructure all need to function seamlessly together. And that is precisely what the Polygon zkEVM project hopes to do."

The scaling technology offers large reductions in the costs of individual transactions. According to the researchers, the expenses of providing proof for a huge batch of hundreds of transactions have been reduced to around $0.06, while the costs for providing proof for a straightforward transfer are less than $0.001.

In November 2021, the company that is responsible for Polygon, Matter Labs, completed a Series B funding round that was lead by Andreessen Horowitz and received $50 million. The funds will be used to develop zk-Rollups that are interoperable with EVMs.