Dencun to Triple Ethereum’s Data Availability: Polygon zkEVM Founder 

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade, slated to occur in mid-March, is expected to bring improved data availability for Layer 2 (L2) solutions in a cost-efficient manner. Polygon zkEVM co-founder Jordi Baylina discussed the significance of the Dencun for Layer 2s like Polygon zkEVM, and in particular the introduction of EIP-4844.

In an Ethereum Core Developer meeting, the developers discussed EIP-4844, a much anticipated scaling solution that is also known as “proto-danksharding.” The proposal aims to improve Ethereum’s scalability beyond the limitations of existing L2 solutions, improving data capacity and reducing transaction fees.

According to Baylina, the Dencun upgrade will improve L2s by tackling challenges like the cost of data availability. According to him, “the main challenge for ZK rollups right now is the cost of data availability.” He believes that the Dencun upgrade’s EIP-4844 could be a game changer for data availability and gas fees on Polygon zkEVM.

In addition, Baylina forecasted a potential cost reduction from 10x to 50x with the EIP-4844 implementation. Further, he asserted that the EIP-4844 implementation would bring a threefold increase in Ethereum’s total data availability capacity.” He added that the upgrade would help ZK rollups like Polygon zkEVM, Linea, zkSync, and Scroll collectively.Baylina also spoke about how Polygon zkEVM was preparing for EIP-4844 integration. He said that ZK rollups like Polygon zkEVM involved a more complex integration procedure compared to optimistic rollups like Optimism and Arbitrum. Polygon zkEVM needs to incorporate BLS pairings within their proofs for the integration, referring to Boneh–Lynn–Shacham, a cryptographic signature scheme used on Ethereum. He added, “A new proof system is necessary, one that will facilitate data compression.”