Polygon develops an open source prover that allows Ethereum chains to become ZK layer 2s
Ethereum Scaling Protocol Polygon has developed a new type 1 protocol, enabling ecosystem chains such as Optimistic Scrolls to unlock Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZK-Proofs) Layer-2 functionality.
Polygon co-founder Brendan Farmer spoke exclusively to Cointelegraph after Polygon announced that its next-generation Polygon zkEVM Type 1 will be available as open source for Ethereum ecosystem participants.
Farmer said that the technology developed with the help of Toposware was a year old and opened up the ability to generate ZK-proofs for mainnet Ethereum blocks, making an average of $0.002 to $0.003 per transaction. Type 1 prover is licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0 and is available on GitHub.
“Type 1 is the last type of zkEVM. It allows us to take any existing chain, Ethereum Layer 1, Optimistic Package or Alternative L1, update that to zkEVM L2 to the Ethereum and Polygon integration layer and participate in the Polygon ecosystem. He explained.
Farmer added that industry participants have historically indicated that a Layer-1 prover would be impractical and cost-effective. However, the group has since been able to deliver efficiency and cost savings.
“We're verifying on average two to three-tenths of a percent of real mainnet Ethereum blocks per transaction. I think it's orders of magnitude less than people expect.”
The development has some interesting implications for the wider Ethereum ecosystem. Farmer explained that the technology allows the creation of ZK-proofs for any Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain.
Polygon's co-founder added that the technology would serve as a public good for the Ethereum ecosystem by removing the need for users and services to maintain a full node.
“Imagine a world where we create L1 authentication for Ethereum, and instead of running a full node, you can do zero-knowledge authentication in your browser. And so, you're getting full node security guarantees without running a node and dealing with the complexity and headaches,” Farmer said.
Polygon's announcement outlines the zkEVM framework originally proposed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. These, from 1 to 4 levels, reflect the level of compatibility with Ethereum and EVM.
Related: Ethereum Layer 2s Continues Different Approaches to Simplification – Vitalik Buterin
A Type 1 prover is considered to have the “highest level of compatibility with Ethereum”, allowing for the creation of proofs of modification or migration of EVM chains. These assertions protect execution logic such as storage structures and hash functions.
The technology allows Optimistic Coils to test the benefits of Type 1 prover, the popular Ethereum L2 protocol that aggregates transactions off-chain and provides proofs to the mainnet. One of the most widely cited optimistic wraparounds is the seven-day period in which deficit funds are locked in.
“We see a lot of promising groups to use this prover and join the Polygon ecosystem because it's a much better user experience. “If you look at the cost to users of using a third-party bridge to avoid the seven-day departure delay, it's generally as high as eight figures,” explained Farmer.
“Being able to eliminate that and provide a more capital-efficient solution to consumers is a huge benefit.”
When asked why Polygon chose to make the technology open source, Farmer said that making the technology available to the wider ecosystem is in line with Ethereum's “ethos”.
“Our view is that if you want to see who's compatible with Ethereum, look at what they're doing, not what they're doing. We think it's a great public good and it's something that should be open source and available to anyone,” Farmer said.
Cointelegraph spoke to Polygon founder Jordi Baillina in December 2023, who said the goal of integrating layer 2 measurement networks and technology would be to complete the “Polygon 2.0” cross-chain coordination protocol by 2024.
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