Polygon’s PoS chain to transition to a ZK layer-2 solution? Details inside…

• zkEVM Validum will gain the advantage of lower fees and higher scalability over zkEVM rollup. 
• The proposal was published by keeping in mind the core vision of Polygon 2.0.

In a major milestone for the Polygon [MATIC] ecosystem, a proposal was put forward to upgrade the proof-of-stake (PoS) network to a zkEVM validium. This was according to a blog post by Polygon Labs.

The upgraded version was intended to make the network more secure. Furthermore, it would rely on zero-knowledge (ZK) technology.

1/ Today a proposal was published to upgrade Polygon PoS to a zkEVM validium, a first-of-its-kind, decentralized ZK Layer 2.

As a zkEVM validium, Polygon PoS would inherit Ethereum’s unmatched security, while preserving low fees & high scalability.

👉🏽 https://t.co/5fsMOqLqRy pic.twitter.com/9r9VILxdvu

— Polygon (Labs) (@0xPolygonLabs) June 20, 2023

Read Polygon’s [MATIC] Price Prediction 2023-2024

Polygon claimed the upgrade would be the first instance of an existing blockchain adopting ZK technology. Additionally, this would enable it to become a layer-2 (L2) network. However, that was if the upgrade gets a green signal from the community,

Significance of zkEVM validium

The proposal was published considering the core vision of Polygon 2.0 – every chain on the ecosystem should be a ZK L2. While the recently-launched Polygon zkEVM already uses ZK proof rollups to scale Ethereum [ETH], the transition of PoS could be a complex one given the size of the network.

Polygon stated that zkEVM validium was partially similar to rollups. This was in the sense that the former too would guarantee the validity of transactions and generate proofs. However, the fundamental difference was that unlike a rollup, a validium wouldn’t store transaction data on the Ethereum chain but rather make it available off-chain.

Limitations of zkEVM rollup

Posting transaction data to Ethereum is expensive and restricts throughput in zkEVM. As per L2Fees, Polygon zkEVM had one of the highest transaction fees among major L2 networks. Furthermore, the estimated cost to swap tokens was $0.49 at the time of writing.

Moreover, when compared with other L2s, the daily transactions on Polygon zkEVM have not been able to take off. According to Artemis, the network could only process 38.9k transactions on 19 June. This was a fraction of the count seen on Arbitrum [ARB], Optimism [OP], and zkSync Era,

Source: Artemis

Validum will therefore gain the advantage of lower fees and higher scalability. Additionally, Polygon said that this would make it ideal for sectors with high transaction volume and low fees like Web3 gaming.

Realistic or not, here’s MATIC’s market cap in BTC terms

Polygon indicated that by the end of Q1 2023 the ambitious implementation could go live on mainnet. This could be the case if consensus was obtained. Furthermore, MATIC pumped 6.38% on the news of this announcement. It exchanged hands at $0.6429 at the time of writing, data from CoinMarketCap revealed.