Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta in operation; Vitalik launches first live transaction

• The Polygon team officially deployed the zkEVM Mainnet for public use. 
• Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin made the first transaction on the network as over 50 projects were in line to join. 

Almost six months after its Public Testnet, the Polygon [MATIC] zkEVM Mainnet Beta went live on Monday 27 March. The event, which began at 10 a.m. E.T, was broadcast live on YouTube. It had in attendance Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s [ETH] co-founder. As expected, Jordin Baylina, technical lead of the Polygon Hermez zkEVM project, was also an active participant.

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Known to have made its primary objective to scale Ethereum, Polygon considered the zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup as a viable solution to the delays experienced on its optimistic match. The idea behind it was to use the existing smart contracts’ power to reduce transaction costs while utilizing Ethereum’s network security.

Finally, Beta is triumphant

In an exclusive press release sent to AMBCrypto, Polygon noted that the Ethereum founder would make the first transaction on the Mainnet. The project’s co-founder, Mihailo Bjelic, who seemed elated in anticipation of the development and Vitalik’s presence, said,

“Today’s launch is an incredible milestone and the beginning of a new chapter for blockchain technology, fulfilling Ethereum’s original promise of becoming a true ‘world computer’ and creating a fairer, more egalitarian internet for all.”

However, the ability to transact was not the only benefit that Polygon was offering. According to Baylina, the team was also open-sourcing the code. This would allow developers to collaborate and innovate within the community. 

When asked how Polygon could achieve the milestone less than two years after ideation, the technical lead said that it was down to the team’s dedication. Furthermore, he mentioned that the utilization of layers in the zkEVM architecture was vital to its fast execution.

Meanwhile, Vitalik was able to make the first successful transaction on the Mainnet in a few minutes. Here, he sent an ETH equivalent of $8.62 to the last address that opened a contract on the zkEVM network.

Source: Polygon zkEVM

Constraints beaten, but caution may be profitable 

After the transaction, the Ethereum founder admitted that scalability was one of the project’s limitations in the early days. But with glaring delight, he commented on the success of the Polygon landmark, saying,

“​​Millions of constraints for man, unconstrained scalability for mankind.”

Polygon also mentioned that over 50 web3 enterprises already showed an interest in joining the zkEVM. Some of these included Solana [SOL]-based Phantom, Etherscan, and Aavegotchi. 

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The project had pointed out that transacting within the zkEM rollup would take only a matter of seconds. However, the web3 project also warned that users bridging Ethereum could encounter a 30 to 60 minutes’ delay in this first phase. 

Also, there could be vulnerabilities that could hinder the seamless processing of large deposits within this period. Polygon’s president Ryan Wyatt commented on the deployment, noting that there was more to do with the ZK expansion in the long term.

And just like that, @VitalikButerin has completed the first transaction on the newly deployed @0xPolygon zkEVM chain.

This is a big moment for scaling decentralized protocols to handle our growth.

More to come on our long-term zk tech strategy.

We’re busy over here. 😅

— Ryan Wyatt (@Fwiz) March 27, 2023