Polygon‘s evolution into 2024 will witness the increasing integration of its ecosystem protocols, employing zero-knowledge proofs for enhanced interconnectedness.
According to Polygon’s co-founder, Jordi Baylina, the upcoming year is slated for the fusion of various Ethereum layer-2 scaling networks, completing the envisioned “Polygon 2.0” cross-chain coordination protocol.
Baylina highlights that the current Polygon ecosystem comprises networks with distinct tokens, sequencers, and data solutions. The imminent move to Polygon 2.0 involves unifying these protocols through ZK-proof technology, creating a continuous and boundless blockspace.
The company’s vision for Polygon 2.0, introduced in June 2023, entails a multi-layered ecosystem. These layers—staking, interop, execution, and proving—aim to build an interconnected web of chains, enabling rapid value transfer and data exchange.
Baylina emphasizes the significant milestones achieved in the past year, including the introduction of zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) and the design announcement of Polygon 2.0. The zkEVM’s beta release in March 2023 slashed transaction costs and boosted smart contract deployment throughput by batch processing off-chain transactions.
Polygon’s zkEVM mirrors Ethereum’s mainnet transaction environment, enabling DApps to scale through transaction batching, ensuring higher performance. The chain development kit (CDK) release in September 2023 expanded the ecosystem for further development opportunities.
Describing Polygon’s current state as a “constellation” with zkEVM as the prominent star, Baylina highlights the network’s transition from proof-of-stake to zkEVM validium. This shift is set to accelerate network scaling and facilitate interconnectedness among ecosystem protocols.
However, Baylina acknowledges the complexity of this transition, outlining the need for network consensus, bridge migration, and seamless application continuity—a challenging yet imperative task for the decentralized Polygon system.
Polygon’s recent proposals in September 2023, including the transition of MATIC tokens to POL tokens as the native token for the Polygon proof-of-stake protocol, signify the company’s continual evolution.
