ConsenSys launches Linea zkEVM to further scale Ethereum

July 11, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain

ConsenSys rolls scaling network Linea, which delivered faster throughput and 15 times lower transaction costs than Ethereum’s layer 1.

The Ethereum ecosystem welcomes another layer-2 scaling solution as ConsenSys begins onboarding partners to its Linea network, which has produced significant scaling milestones in testing.

Linea is an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network that allows developers to build or migrate decentralized applications for Ethereum. It operates using zero-knowledge proofs and is Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) equivalent, meaning its applications can seamlessly interact with the Ethereum blockchain.

The network went through a lengthy testnet period which saw some 5.5 million unique wallets carry out over 46 million transactions. ConsenSys outlined improvements to Linea’s performance, transaction costs and user experience through its testing period.

The gradual alpha release began on July 11 with more than 100 partners and ConsenSys touts faster throughput and 15 times lower transaction fees than those executed on Ethereum’s mainnet.

Linea also integrates with ConsenSys’ Ethereum browser wallet MetaMask, giving Linea users access to its token bridge, swap and buy functionality.

ConsenSys founder and CEO Joseph Lubin highlighted the number of layer 2 Ethereum scaling protocols and solutions as a key component driving the development of Web3 applications and functionality:

“With the Merge to Proof of Stake and the broad traction of the rollup-centric roadmap, Ethereum L2s are set to play a crucial role in making great advances in scalability and usability.”

The announcement shared with Cointelegraph highlights decentralized finance (DeFi) applications migrating to Linea to tap into fast finality, capital efficient bridge and inherited security from Ethereum’s mainnet.

Meanwhile the network also offers lower gas fees, high throughput and low latency, which are key components needed to power nonfungible tokens, blockchain gaming and social applications.

ConsenSys also launched its Linea Ecosystem Investment Alliance (EIA), which will see more than 30 venture capital firms lend capital and advisory assistance to ecosystem builders.

The launch of Linea’s alpha mainnet will make use of safeguards to protect users, DApps and the network itself. This includes only allowing launch partners the execute calls to the network over the first week.

ConsenSys intends to open up the network during ETHCC in France from July 17, while some limits on withdrawals may be instituted over the first 90 days. The firm will carry out a bug bounty and monitor system performance before fully opening LIna to end users.

Ethereum layer 2's have been a major talking point in 2023. Layer 2 development firm Polygon also tooks its zkEVM network public in March 2023. Meanwhile Starknet, whose founder Eli Ben-Sasson pioneered zk-proofs, has focused on increasing throughput of its network this year.

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Magazine: ZK-rollups are ‘the endgame’ for scaling blockchains: Polygon Miden founder

Account abstraction will drive a billion users from Asia to Web3: ConsenSys exec

July 5, 2023 Coin Telegraph

account abstraction

In addition to “smart accounts” Ethereum adoption will be boosted by Web3 gaming along with zkEVM scaling and security, says Laura Shi.

Account abstraction, also known as “smart accounts” could eventually onboard a billion users from the Asia region to Web3, according to an executive at Ethereum software solutions provider ConsenSys.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, the director of strategic initiatives at ConsenSys, Laura Shi, noted that the Ethereum and Web3 ecosystem has seen a strong expansion in Asia this year.

“More dApps are improving UX for the Asian market, including introducing Asian language support,” she said.

Shi added this expansion is primarily being driven by the introduction of zero knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) rollups and the mass adoption of Optimistic rollups.

The two rollups are layer-2 scaling solutions with zkEVM offering developers security, scaling and direct compatibility with Ethereum smart contracts.

Shi believes the development of account abstraction, which offers greater programmable functionality and more “bank-like” features than a regular crypto wallet, would increase adoption in the region.

“The development of account abstraction will facilitate the onboarding of billion-level users in APAC to Web3”

Account abstraction was proposed by Vitalik Buterin and other developers in EIP-4337 to “completely avoid consensus-layer protocol changes, instead relying on higher-layer infrastructure,” in September 2021. However, the concept goes much further back in Ethereum’s timeline.

According to the 2022 Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index, the top two crypto-adopting countries in the world were in Asia — Vietnam and the Philippines. Thailand, China and India were in the top 10 despite anti-crypto sentiments from their respective governments.

Shi believes mass adoption in Asia is also being driven by social gaming and Web3 gaming, citing South Korea and China as examples.

“South Korea's gaming publishers are continuously focusing on Web3 RPG game publishing, attempting to optimize the sustainability of the on-chain economic model,” said Shi.

“Meanwhile, the Chinese-speaking developer ecosystem is focusing on onboarding Web2 users to Web3 gaming through adopting account abstraction solutions.”

Both use cases will rely heavily on zkEVM roll ups and account abstraction development, she added.

“From the use-case perspective, we see Web3 social and gaming content has the largest potential in the coming years. It is powered by [a] zkEVM rollup solution and [an] account abstraction solution that enables gas fee subsidy and social recovery.”

Asked whether the current U.S. industry crackdown could be driving Ethereum and Web3 ecosystem growth in Asia, Shi said she didn’t see any correlation.

“So far we have not observed any direct correlation between these and the regulatory dynamics in the United States.”

The pivot to Asia has been a hot topic recently as U.S. crypto and Web3 companies seek friendlier jurisdictions in the Far East.

However, the Ethereum ecosystem in Asia appears to be doing fine on its own without the catalyst of Uncle Sam’s war on crypto.

Magazine: Crypto City: Guide to Osaka, Japan’s second-biggest city

Starknet moves closer to EVM compatibility with upcoming ‘Kakarot’ testnet

June 22, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

With fresh funding under its belt, a new zkEVM is set to go to testnet in August, allowing developers to write in any EVM-compatible language on Starknet.

Starknet, a zero knowledge layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum is one step closer to becoming fully Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible pending an August testnet launch of Kakarot, a new zkEVM.

On June 3, the Kakarot team announced it had received new backing from Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin, Ledger co-founder Nicholas Bacca and Starkware.

We have powered up and entered Super Saiyan mode⚡. Kakarot Labs has officially been incorporated and closed a pre-seed round with top-tier investors.

Let’s unpack our vision, current standing, and the exciting future ahead. pic.twitter.com/VI8QRdPLfw
— Kakarot zkEVM (@KakarotZkEvm) June 2, 2023

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Kakarot CEO and Co-Founder Elias Tazartes explained that while Starknet stands as a leading Zero Knowledge roll-up in the Ethereum ecosystem, it's not EVM compatible, so there’s “kind of a barrier to entry.”

Starknet is used by developers to scale decentralized applications, transactions and computation on Ethereum, but uses its own native language Cairo. According to Starknet, the use of Cairo makes it easier and faster to develop, review and maintain new code.

The downside is that it isn’t EVM compatible, which could dissuade some developers.

“The greatest impact that Kakarot can have is to make Starknet EVM compatible.”

“Kakarot right now is like a Solidity or any language engine. Eventually you will be able to put that engine within Starknet to make it EVM compatible.”

At present, Starknet runs its own custom smart contract Virtual Machine dubbed “Cairo VM” that leverages its native coding language Cairo. This means that Starknet doesn’t have direct EVM compatibility out of the box, something that could prove to be a significant hurdle for overall rollup performance.

“Some teams really need to be able to use Solidity. For example, if someone wrote a DEX or an AMM for the Ethereum ecosystem and now has 60,000 lines of code already audited, ready to go, but it’s only on EVM chains.”

If these developers wanted to start using Starknet they would have to hire a whole new dev team, write in, audit the code again and maintain two code bases, becoming what Tazartes describes as “prohibitively expensive.”

According to Tazartes, the idea for the zkEVM was first floated during a Starkware conference in July 2022. By October, the development team was able to together for a week during a hacker house event in Lisbon, Portugal to get cracking on the new zkEVM.

Two months and 20 days later in December, the coding for the project was complete, arriving at a fully functional execution layer — all of which was achieved without any venture funding.

Notably, Tazartes said that Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buteirn later invested in Kakarot due to his enthusiasm toward a multiple-zkEVM approach to building out the Ethereum ecosystem.

“For Vitalik, the more zkEVMs the better, because as long as you have a wide diversity of architecture and diversity of approaches…then this is really good for the space as a whole.”

Tazartes shared that the testnet version of Kakarot will be launched for public use in August this year.

Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0 — The race to build safe and legal coin mixers

Polygon co-founder proposes zkEVM ‘validium’ upgrade to improve security

June 20, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Mihailo Bjelic suggested that adding zero-knowledge proof technology could bolster the network’s security while still keeping fees low.

Polygon co-founder Mihailo Bjelic has proposed upgrading the Polygon Proof of Stake (PoS) network to a “zkEVM validium” version, according to a June 20 forum post. If the upgrade is implemented, the new version will rely on zero-knowledge proofs to increase security.

HUGE UPDATE ON #Polygon

Polygon may go through some huge changes in near future. @MihailoBjelic shared a polygon improvement proposal few hours ago which discussed to upgrade polygon POS to zkEVM Validium.

According to the proposal, Polygon POS is facing three key challenges…
— Hitesh Malviya (@hmalviya9) June 20, 2023

Polygon PoS is an Ethereum scaling solution that has over $900 million total value locked within its contracts and does over 2 million transactions per day. It was first launched in 2019. In March, the Polygon team launched a second network, Polygon zkEVM, that uses zero-knowledge proof rollups to scale Ethereum.

In the June 20 post, Bjelic proposed to also upgrade the old PoS network to a zkEVM version, making both networks rely on zero-knowledge proofs. However, unlike the network that just launched in March, the new version of Polygon PoS will not be a “rollup,” Bjelic stated. In other words, it will not store compressed transaction data on Ethereum. Instead, it will be a “validium” that stores only validation proofs on layer 1, while the actual transaction data will be kept on a separate chain.

This compromise will allow Polygon PoS to have lower transaction fees than Polygon zkEVM. It will also increase the security of Polygon PoS, since it will allow the network to inherit Ethereum’s security, the co-founder concluded.

Once the upgrade is implemented, Polygon zkEVM may be used for high-value transactions where security is of the utmost importance, whereas Polygon PoS may become the network for gaming and social media enthusiasts, Bjelic suggested, stating:

“Upgraded Polygon PoS (zkEVM validium) would offer very high scalability and very low fees, with the tradeoff of storing transaction data locally instead of on Ethereum. It would be a great fit for applications that have high transaction volume and require low transaction fees, e.g. Web3 gaming and social.”

The Polygon co-founder offered a timeline for when he thought the upgrade could be implemented, stating that his informal proposal could be turned into a formal Polygon Improvement Proposal (PIP) by November and implemented on mainnet sometime between February and March, 2024.

The launch of Polygon zkEVM and upgrading of Polygon PoS is part of a grand plan by the team to create a “Supernet” uniting many different application-specific chains. The devs call this project “Polygon 2.0.”

The native coin of the Polygon ecosystem, called “MATIC,” was delisted by eToro on June 13 after the United States Securities and Exchange commission claimed that it had been sold as an unregistered security. The Polygon team has denied that their fundraise violated any U.S. laws.

Polygon’s ‘holy grail’ Ethereum scaling zkEVM beta hits mainnet

March 27, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Ethereum layer 2 scaling platform Polygon has released its zkEVM to mainnet beta, allowing developers to deploy smart contracts with increased finality and lower costs.

Polygon has released its open-source zkEVM Ethereum (ETH) scaling technology to the mainnet, promising reduced transaction costs and increased throughput of smart contract deployments.

Polygon’s zkEVM is a zero-knowledge rollup (ZK-rollups) scaling solution equivalent to the Ethereum Virtual Machine. ZK-rollups increase throughput on Ethereum’s blockchain by batching computations and state storage to layer-2 platforms. The technology allows thousands of transactions to be batched off-chain, with a proof containing a minimal data summary posted to the Ethereum mainnet.

Polygon’s zkEVM is a type of ZK-rollup that mimics the transaction execution environment of Ethereum’s mainnet. The open-source zkEVM is touted to allow decentralized applications (DApps) to scale through transaction batching, unlocking higher performance.

Gas fees are also set to be reduced for DApp users, which could drive wider adoption, while the use of zero-knowledge proofs sees Polygon zkEVM inherit Ethereum’s network security. Lastly, equivalence with Ethereum means that developers can simply copy across existing smart contracts to Polygon’s zkEVM.

Cointelegraph spoke to Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal ahead of the mainnet beta launch to unpack the significance of the milestone, and the anticipated effect zkEVM will have on the wider Ethereum ecosystem.

27th March 2023 will change Ethereum scaling for ever.

What does a “zkEVM Mainnet” mean?

1. EVM Equivalence
2. Fully done and published audits
3. Public access to all developers, builders and users
4. Performant

Polygon zkEVM is the only game in town currently!#zk23 season! pic.twitter.com/OK34fQhTAD
— Sandeep Nailwal | sandeep. polygon (@sandeepnailwal) March 25, 2023

Nailwal described ZK proofs as ‘the holy grail of Ethereum scaling,’ allowing the layer 1 blockchain to simply verify a submitted proof without having to re-run computations:

“Imagine you computed a whole business transaction somewhere else off-chain on layer 2, but on Ethereum, you submitted a very succinct proof and Ethereum 200% knows that you computed it correctly.”

ZK-rollups are also set to make optimistic rollups obsolete, according to Nailwal. The Ethereum blockchain essentially assumes optimistic rollups are submitting correct computations while a network participant verifies the details of the transaction. This is part of the reason optimistic rollups on layer 2 have a seven-day withdrawal period:

“That's why it's a game changer. The community knows that optimistic rollups are like crutches before Ethereum figured out ZK. And now that ZK is there, it kind of makes optimistic rollups obsolete. This is the end game basically.”

Nailwal says the advent of ZK-rollups means that future development of the Ethereum ecosystem can focus on user experience, increased scalability and easier proving to ‘open up the floodgates’ for wider use.

While the zkEVM has been launched to mainnet beta, Nailwal stressed that the technology is in the end state of the product. The zkEVM will continue to be optimized as users increase and bug bounties, and further audits will be carried out over the next couple of months.

Cointelegraph also queried whether ZK-rollups have brought the Ethereum ecosystem closer to solving the so-called blockchain trilemma coined by co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

“It is very close, actually. The blockchain trilemma says out of security, decentralization and scalability, you can choose only two. What you are doing is getting scalability somewhere else, computing something and getting the security and decentralization from Ethereum.”

Buterin was also involved in the launch of Polygon’s zkEVM on March 27, carrying out the first user transaction. Nailwal described the gesture as symbolic, given Buterin’s ongoing influence in the development of Ethereum.

Polygon, Immutable zkEVM to tackle ‘huge incumbents exploiting players’

March 20, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain gaming

Web3 gaming developers will be able to build on a new zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine that aims to increase ownership rights for players and take on the big gaming corporations.

Gaming developers are getting a new platform on which to build Web3 games, with a tie-up between Polygon Labs and Immutable set to launch a new zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM).

The partnership sees the two Ethereum layer-2 firms create an “Immutable zkEVM” — a Polygon (MATIC)-powered zkEVM fully supported on Immutable’s Web3 game development platform.

Scheduled for a March 27 mainnet beta launch, Polygon’s zkEVM enables the validation of mass amounts of transaction data by bundling them up into one transaction that’s then confirmed on the Ethereum network. The same technology will feature on Immutable’s zkEVM solution.

Polygon Labs president, Ryan Wyatt, told Cointelegraph that the technology would allow game developers to focus on building a “great game” rather than needing to divert resources toward building the game on-chain.

“This massively simplifies the choices for developers and helps us focus on what really matters — which is taking on the huge incumbents who are exploiting players on a daily basis.”

In a separate statement, Immutable co-founder and president Robbie Ferguson stated that billions of dollars worth of in-game skins is sold each year with no rights to players.

“We’re changing that so players are in control, and ownership is the expectation,” he said.

How it started vs how it's going.

We won't stop until digital property rights for gamers are the expectation - not a headline. pic.twitter.com/uac4VHODBA
— Robbie Ferguson | Immutable (@0xferg) March 15, 2023

Wyatt told Cointelegraph that the partnership came together despite Immutable and Polygon Labs being in competition, adding that the technology “really quickly aligned us” and it was “good for gamers and game developers.”

A ChainPlay survey of blockchain gamers last August revealed that 81% are prioritizing a positive and fun in-game experience after 89% reported losing money in the crypto winter of 2022.

Wyatt said that currently, devs are too focused on how to “actually build a game on-chain,” which pulls focus away from “making a really great game.”

We surveyed the participants, what factors investors want to see in future GameFi projects. The results are not too surprising. 71% of investors say that “Interesting Gameplay” will keep them hooked to the industry. pic.twitter.com/dhb19kmpCf
— ChainPlay.GG (@Chainplaygg) July 20, 2022

“You shouldn’t really have to worry about these different parts of the infrastructure stack and game development,” he said. “This stuff should come easy. You should be able to plug and play very easily with it.”

The testnet is expected to be released at the end of Q2 and “some” interfaces for building on the zkEVM will be available on March 20. MATIC will be the “staking token,” with Immutable’s IMX token the “core gas currency.”

Ferguson said they chose to build for the Ethereum-based gaming ecosystem because “it would be much better to scale the thing that everyone already wanted to use [...] rather than try and compete directly with Ethereum.”

“The right way to onboard the next billion players is not by competing with Ethereum but by building on it and scaling with it,” he said, adding that crypto could triple its monthly users “overnight” if Web3 gaming is successful with a “breakout” gaming title.

“What that requires is incredibly seamless infrastructure and a platform where users can get real ownership of their items without even knowing it's Web3 under the hood.”

Ferguson added he hopes the success of the platform means that “digital property rights in the game are the norm” so that games are owned by “all players rather than giant corporations.”

ConsenSys zkEVM set for public testnet to deliver secure settlements on Ethereum

March 3, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

ConsenSys will release its zkEVM rollup to its public testnet on March 28, paving the way for an eventual mainnet integration later in 2023.

ConsenSys has announced the upcoming release of its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) rollup to a public testnet on March 28, allowing for stress testing of the layer-2 scaling technology.

ConsenSys’ research and development team has been working on its zkEVM rollup over the past four years. The zkEVM is touted to offer fast finality, high throughput and security of settlements on the Ethereum blockchain.

A private beta launched in Q4 of 2022 gave early access to limited users, which processed over 350,000 transactions and onboarded various decentralized applications (DApps). The testnet allowed Solidity developers to build, test and launch DApps while testing the zkEVM at scale.

Onboarding for our zkEVM is in full flow, and activity is at peak levels

We’ve successfully executed 300k total transactions and are processing more than 50,000 transactions per day

https://t.co/Tn42pKGPrr
— ConsenSys (@ConsenSys) February 23, 2023

ConsenSys zkEVM is the culmination of work from teams at Infura, Truffle and MetaMask, as well as developers on Besu and Gnark. Integrations and features of the rollup were aimed to remove developer complexity, improve security and expedite onboarding times.

An announcement shared with Cointelegraph highlighted zero switching costs as a benefit to projects in the ecosystem. Developers can build on the zkEVM or migrate existing DApps without changing code or rewriting smart contracts. The zkEVM also uses Ether (ETH) for gas fees, cutting out the need for third-party code translation and other middleware solutions.

ConsenSys zkEVM integrates with MetaMask, which is aimed to expedite the onboarding of users. Infura integration also allows developers to ship DApps at scale. Developers will also be able to build, test, debug and deploy Solidity smart contracts with a variety of layer 2 developer environments powered by Truffle.

ConsenSys also aims to keep its zkEVM open-source after launch. Nicolas Liochon, head of research and development at ConsenSys, told Cointelegraph that the goal of the public beta testnet is to trial the system under the same conditions it would face on mainnet where the stakes are higher.

“Users and developers will be able to permissionlessly interact with our technology stack allowing us to stress test the system under challenging and adversarial conditions.”

Following integration with the public testnet, ConsenSys will carry out a system outgrade. This is aimed at laying the foundation for a “highly performant, trustless, and decentralized network,” according to Liochon.

The final upgrade will also start its auditing and security process to ensure the zkEVM is safe and secure before a mainnet launch earmarked to take place later in 2023.

ConsenSys is in discussions with leading players in the Ethereum ecosystem to deploy and integrate with its zkEVM testnet. Liochon highlighted the focus on making the scaling rollup EVM-equivalent a key factor in making it easy for DApps and tools to switch to its zkEVM.

Liochon also said efforts to make decentralized and trustless applications available to the public require simpler and cheaper systems. The zkEVM aims to achieve this by building a trustless, censorship-resistance, decentralized and performant execution layer that scales Ethereum.

Collaboration with the wider layer 2 ecosystems is also a focus for ConsenSys. Liochon said the organization is looking to work with innovators in the space to convene the first zkEVM “multi-prover” rollup.

This type of scaling rollup would have multiple prover implementations generating validity proofs of computation.

Polygon (MATIC) Is Poised to Outperform Bitcoin, Says Crypto Analyst – Here’s the Timeline

February 17, 2023 The Daily Hodl

Polygon sets late March launch date for its zkEVM mainnet beta

February 15, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

The Ethereum scaling solutions provider is preparing to launch its long-awaited Ethereum Virtual Machine roll-up technology.

The long-awaited scaling upgrade from Ethereum layer-2 solution provider Polygon (MATIC) has been announced, with the beta launch of its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) mainnet slated for March 27.

In a Feb. 14 blog post, Polygon said that after three and a half months of “battle testing,” the system will be ready for the mainnet launch next month.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Poems are hard
Mainnet Beta is here

ON MARCH 27, Polygon #zkEVM launches the future of Ethereum scaling

https://t.co/OqSOYTn8Uv pic.twitter.com/kpXavea3ff
— Polygon (@0xPolygon) February 14, 2023

It's been touted as “seamless scaling for Ethereum,” and was launched as a testnet in December last year.

The development of the zk-rollup scaling technology has been ongoing for the past three years. During that time, the Polygon zkEVM system has hit several milestones noted by the team.

These include the deployment of more than 5,000 smart contracts, the generation of over 75,000 zk-proofs, more than 84,000 wallets and two public third-party audits.

*A graphic detailing the development so far leading up to the launch. Source: Polygon*

The team noted that security is the highest priority and that’s the reason “why Polygon zkEVM has been run through a gauntlet of tests and audits.”

The technology uses zero-knowledge proofs — cryptographic confirmations that, in the context of scaling, enable platforms to validate mass amounts of transaction data before bundling and confirming them on Ethereum.

Polygon is not the only team working on a zkEVM solution. Scaling provider zkSync is developing similar EVM technology with its zkPorter — which puts essential transaction data off-chain.

Scroll, another scaling solutions provider, is also building a zkEVM solution in collaboration with the Privacy and Scaling Explorations group, part of the Ethereum Foundation.

The Ethereum Foundation is also funding a project called Applied ZKP, which aims to develop an EVM-compatible zk-rollup.

The team explained the significance of the technology, stating that true EVM-equivalence means Ethereum can be scaled “without resorting to half-measures.”

“The best way to scale Ethereum is to preserve the existing Ethereum ecosystem: code, tooling, and infrastructure needs to just work. And that’s what Polygon zkEVM is aiming to achieve.”

The scaling tech also enables significant transaction cost savings. Proof costs for a large batch of hundreds of transactions are down to about $0.06 and less than $0.001 for a simple transfer, the team added.

Matter Labs, the firm behind Polygon, raised $50 million in a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz to build EVM-compatible zk-Rollups in November 2021.

Polygon’s native token, MATIC, has reacted positively to the announcement with a 5.3% gain over the past 12 hours or so. As a result, the token was trading for $1.24 at the time of writing, according to Cointelegraph data.

Polygon tests zero-knowledge rollups, mainnet integration inbound

January 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Polygon takes zero-knowledge rollups to the final testnet to gauge the performance of its zkEVM ahead of eventual mainnet integration.

Ethereum layer-2 scaling protocol Polygon (MATIC) is carrying out performance testing of zero-knowledge rollup (zk rollups) technology ahead of full integration with its mainnet.

The development of the technology, called Polygon zkEVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), has been ongoing for over three years by the Polygon Hermez team. The team has already confirmed that zero-knowledge proofs are possible on Ethereum, by generating over 12,000 zk-proofs in a primary version of the zkEVM testnet.

David Schwartz, project lead of Polygon zkEVM and PolygonID, unpacked the development of the functionality in correspondence with Cointelegraph. Layer-2 platforms have continued to evolve and improve functionality which has played a key role in driving Ethereum's scalability.

As he explained, zero-knowledge rollups have increased the speed at which layer-2 platforms can achieve finality while ensuring secure validation of transactions with zero-knowledge technology. In blockchain terms, finality is the point at which a block of transactions is considered to have been permanently and irreversibly added to the blockchain:

“Finally, we have zkEVMs, such as Polygon zkEVM, that offer all the above in addition to the equivalence to Ethereum Virtual Machine with its advanced methods of zk-STARKs and zk-SNARKs.”

According to Schwartz, Polygon zkEVM includes the first complete source code available EVM-equivalent zkProver, which passes all Ethereum vector tests at over 99%. He described the completion of validity proofs for conventional user transactions as "the most challenging and rewarding effort" since his team began developing its native zkEVM.

Two years ago, the Polygon team estimated that developing zk rollups with EVM compatibility would take up to ten years. Given the strides made, the team describes zkEVM as the end game, combining advances with layer 2 scalability and fast finality. This offers a myriad of benefits to users when adding greater throughput and lower fees.

Cointelegraph also queried the difference between Polygon zkEVM and fellow Ethereum layer-2 scaling network StarkNet’s proprietary ZK-SNARK and ZK-STARK technology. As previously reported, ZK-STARKS (Zero-Knowledge Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge) primarily increases scalability by batching thousands of transactions with a single proof to confirm validity on chain.

Schwartz said the main difference between the projects is that zkEVM focuses on natively scaling the Ethereum ecosystem instead of other zk-rollups just scaling transactions and enhancing performance in a different VM format.

Polygon’s approach purports to meet the classification of a type 2 zkEVM described by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in August 2022. As per Buterin’s summary, type 2 zkEVMs aim to be fully compatible with existing applications, but make minor modifications to Ethereum for easier development and faster proof generation. Schwartz added:

“In contrast, StarkNet is positioned as a Type 4, introducing a new high-level language and requiring transpilers to translate solidity code into their language.”

At the same time, Schwartz welcomed the opportunity to have more benchmarks and source code available from other projects in order to learn from different approaches. Activity on Ethereum layer-2 solutions continues to grow, with blockchain data showing that transaction volume Arbitrum and Optimism overshadowed transactions on the Ethereum mainnet going into 2023.

zkEVM

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