Polygon Labs recently announced a proposal to upgrade the Polygon PoS to a zkEVM validium, which represents the first such decentralized L2 secured by zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. This development is set to enhance the security and performance of Polygon PoS, making it a core part of the forthcoming Polygon 2.0 ecosystem. The upgrade is expected to go live on the mainnet by the end of Q1 2024, subject to a consensus from the community.
The goal of the proposal is to upgrade Polygon PoS to leverage the advanced ZK technology and fit into the Polygon 2.0 vision, ideally without changing anything for users or developers. All applications should continue working, and fees should remain just as low. The only difference should be higher security for users and seamless interoperability with every other chain in the Polygon 2.0 ecosystem.
The zkEVM validium offers low fees, high security, and scalability. The proposed validiums are expected to provide lower fees and higher scalability than rollups as they do not consume expensive Ethereum gas to store transaction data. The only additional cost to run Polygon PoS as a zkEVM validium would be the cost of generating proofs.
The proposed upgrade does not change the experience of the Polygon PoS network for users or developers. The implementation of a ZK tech-stack would not require any retooling of smart contracts for developers. In addition, node operators and validators would only need to upgrade to the latest version of the Polygon PoS client software.
Existing Polygon PoS validators would have important roles after the upgrade, guaranteeing data availability and sequencing transactions. This makes Polygon PoS the first L2 with a decentralized sequencer set, and transaction fees would continue to flow to MATIC-staked validators.
Following the upgrade, Polygon PoS and Polygon zkEVM rollup would continue to coexist and complement each other using zkEVM technology. The upgraded Polygon PoS (zkEVM validium) is expected to offer high scalability and very low fees, making it suitable for applications with high transaction volume and requiring low transaction fees, such as Web3 gaming and micro DeFi.
