Polygon zkEVM Beta Launches on Mainnet, Buterin to Initiate Inaugural Transaction

The Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta went live on Monday, March 27th, facilitating the deployment of smart contracts with increased finality and reduced costs. The release of the zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine beta to the public comes days after rival Matter Labs released its own zkEVM.

One of the main attractions of the Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta is its lower gas fees for decentralized app (dApp) users. These reduced costs could spur wider adoption of the Ethereum scaling technology. Using zero-knowledge proofs also sees zkEVM inherit Ethereum’s network security while also facilitating enhanced developer usage. For instance, developers can copy existing smart contracts to Polygon’s zkEVM.

Nitty-Gritty of Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta

Polygon said it would make all aspects of its zkEVM open source. This implies that developers can study and share the code, promoting more potential innovation within the zero-knowledge space. As Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal put it in a media session:

“We want to be extremely aligned to the Web3 ethos. We want more experimentation.”

Ethereum blockchain co-founder Vitalik Buterin will initiate the first transaction on the network’s zero-knowledge Virtual Machine beta. Nailwal described the Ethereum co-founder’s gesture as symbolic, given his influence on the blockchain’s development. According to the Polygon team, Buterin’s activities will be live-streamed as part of the announcement ceremony to raise awareness further.

So far, around 50 companies seek to build using Polygon’s zkEVM technology as the race between Polygon and Matter Labs heats up.

ZkEVM Functionality

Polygon’s zkEVM functions as a zero-knowledge rollup (or ZK-rollup) scaling solution that increases throughput on the Ethereum protocol. The Polygon ZK-rollup executes functionality by batching computations and state storage to layer-2 platforms. The technology facilitates the off-chain batching of thousands of transactions, with a minimal data summary proof posted to the Ethereum mainnet.

Describing ZK proofs as “the holy grail of Ethereum scaling,” Nailwal said:

“Imagine you computed a whole business transaction somewhere else off-chain on layer 2, but on Ethereum, you submitted a very succinct proof, and Ethereum 200% knows that you computed it correctly.”

Nailwal also explained that ZK-rollups would render Optimistic Rollups obsolete.

“[ZK-rollups are] a game changer. The community knows that Optimistic Rollups are like crutches before Ethereum figured out ZK. And now that ZK is there, it kind of makes Optimistic Rollups obsolete. This is the end game, basically,” added he.

Although users can interact with the recently-launched Polygon zkEVM live mainnet, Nailwal cautioned that the technology is still new. He added to this cautionary note, saying, “don’t bring your life savings into it immediately.”

zkEVM Integration with Polygon Main Chain

Another Polygon co-founder Mihailo Bjelic previously hinted at plans to use ZK technology in the network’s main chain. In a media session from early February, Bjelic explained that Polygon is exploring ways to onboard “zero knowledge” in its Polygon POS chain. According to him, this goal could eventually drive the network’s ecosystem. However, Bjelic pointed out that the Polygon POS chain would first have to undergo an upgrade to become ZK-secure.