Polygon, the sidechain of the Ethereum blockchain (ETH), has deployed its zkEVM network based on zero-knowledge rollups (zkRollups) technology compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Polygon zkEVM thus becomes the second layer 2 of its kind to enter the race after the recent launch of zkSync Era.
Polygon unveils its zkEVM layer 2 on mainnet
The zkEVM race is in full swing: after the very recent launch of zkSync Era by the firm Matter Labs, it’s the sidechain Polygon (MATIC) which officializes the deployment of its network based on the zero-knowledge rollups technology (zkRollups) compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
After about a year of development, the Polygon zkEVM network celebrated its launch with a transaction conducted by none other than Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain (ETH). The latter symbolically conducted a transaction of 0.005 ETH to a random address, all accompanied by a message not without a sense of humor:
” A few million constraints for man, an unconstrained scalability for mankind. “
Thus, zkSync Era and Polygon zkEVM are now neck and neck with layer 2 zkEVMs deployed on mainnet, while others are still in the testing phase such as Scroll or Starknet. Unlike traditional ZK-Rollups, zkEVMs allow full compatibility with Ethereum code, making it easier for developers to work and deploy applications.
What they have in common with traditional ZK-Rollups is that they considerably increase the scalability of their underlying network (layer 1) while reducing transaction costs, all the while benefiting from their native network, Ethereum.
A promising new network
About fifty applications have already shown their interest in Polygon zkEVM, including the Uniswap (UNI) and Aave protocols which still need to validate their respective deployment with their decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
Polygon zkEVM being in the Mainnet Beta phase, users are advised to remain cautious about the various transactions they might be asked to perform. However, the network should be very secure as it has undergone two independent audits in addition to an internal audit.
Moreover, the entire source code of Polygon zkEVM has been made open source under the AGPL v3 license, which provides maximum transparency while allowing developers to fully exploit the layer 2 code.
Mihailo Bjelic, the co-founder of Polygon, was in any case reassuring about the EVM compatibility of layer 2:
With zkEVM, you can deploy any Ethereum application without any modification, using existing Ethereum development tools like Remix, and interact with the network using standard wallets like Metamask. Nearly 6,000 smart contracts were deployed on the test network without any modifications and without any problems. “
The price of MATIC, however, was down 4.28% over 24 hours as of this writing, as you can see from the chart below:
MATIC price over 24 hours
