Introduction
Two years ago, the crypto platform Polygon (MATIC), created to address Ethereum’s scalability issues, unveiled zkEVM. This solution notably helps to tackle the scalability challenges of blockchain. The improvements in this area have not stopped as stakeholders have gone even further by developing a type-1 zkEVM prover. Here’s what it’s about.
The Breakthrough: Type-1 zkEVM Prover
Polygon Labs and Toposware have unveiled a groundbreaking advancement in blockchain technology with the introduction of the type-1 zkEVM prover. This collaboration represents a significant leap forward in making EVM blockchains more efficient, secure, and interconnected within the Polygon ecosystem.
Specifically, the type-1 zkEVM prover enables any EVM blockchain to seamlessly transition to a zero-knowledge layer-2 solution (ZK L2) by integrating with the entire Polygon ecosystem through the Aggregation Layer (AggLayer). This is fundamentally an innovation as this solution significantly reduces transaction costs, offering an improvement in speed and user experience across Polygon protocols.
Democratizing Access to Blockchain Technology
This development especially democratizes access to blockchain technology by significantly reducing the proof cost for entire Ethereum mainnet blocks to only 0.20 to 0.50 dollars per block. These cost reductions are made possible thanks to innovation and optimizations led by the community. Forecasts suggest that these costs could further decrease by 30 to 50 times below the current levels.
Details about the type-1 zkEVM prover
The type-1 zkEVM prover is released as an open-source tool under the MIT and Apache 2.0 licenses. This approach invites broader participation from developers, promoting innovation and scalability within the Ethereum ecosystem.
Its compatibility with this blockchain preserves the integrity of the EVM’s execution logic without requiring any modifications or migrations. This simplifies the transition to ZK L2 solutions for existing EVM blockchains.
Furthermore, associated with the AggLayer, the type-1 zkEVM prover promotes a unified blockchain ecosystem. This has the effect of facilitating direct connectivity between EVM blockchains and the Ethereum network. An integrative approach that promises to improve activity across blockchains and a seamless user experience akin to that of a single, cohesive blockchain.
Promising Future Developments
For crypto analysts, it’s a technological marvel that not only strengthens the Polygon ecosystem but is also expected to play a strategic role in fueling the platform’s crypto development kit.
While the crypto community eagerly awaits new optimizations and the release of Plonky3, Polygon Labs continues to support the advancement of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK). These ongoing crypto developments promise to make ZKs even more cost-effective, bringing us closer to the vision of a scalable, secure, and user-friendly blockchain ecosystem.