This significant development was shared exclusively with Daily Dose Crypto by Polygon co-founder following the announcement that the new Polygon zkEVM Type 1 prover would be released as open-source software for all Ethereum ecosystem participants.
Farmer revealed that this technological advancement, developed in collaboration with Toposware, has been a year in the making. It empowers the generation of ZK-proofs for mainnet Ethereum blocks at an average transaction cost ranging from $0.002 to $0.003. The Type 1 prover, licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0, will be publicly available on GitHub.
“The Type 1 prover is the ultimate form of zkEVM. It enables us to upgrade any existing chain, whether it’s Ethereum layer 1, an optimistic rollup, or an alternative L1, into a zkEVM L2 that seamlessly interfaces with Ethereum and Polygon’s aggregation layer,” Farmer elaborated.
Historically, industry experts believed that a layer-1 prover was impractical and economically unfeasible. However, Polygon’s team has defied expectations by delivering efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
“We’re proving real mainnet Ethereum blocks at an average cost of two- to three-tenths of a cent per transaction. I think that that’s orders of magnitude lower than what people were expecting,” Farmer remarked.
This breakthrough has profound implications for the Ethereum ecosystem. It enables the generation of ZK-proofs for any Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain and eliminates the need for users and services to maintain a full node, making it a significant public good for Ethereum.
Polygon’s announcement aligns with the zkEVM framework proposed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, which categorizes prover types based on their compatibility with Ethereum and its EVM. The Type 1 prover, deemed to have the highest compatibility level, facilitates the generation of proofs for EVM chains with modifications or migrations, preserving execution logic.
Moreover, this technology benefits optimistic rollups, popular Ethereum layer-2 protocols, by providing a more efficient user experience and eliminating the drawbacks associated with the withdrawal delay.
Polygon’s decision to make this technology open source reflects its commitment to Ethereum’s ethos and the broader blockchain community. Farmer emphasized the importance of sharing this innovation with everyone, underscoring its status as a significant public good.