The Polygon zkEVM mainnet testnet is launched. How will it affect the Polygon ecosystem?

Author: Grapefruit, ChainCatcher

On March 27, the test version (Beta) of the Polygon zkEVM mainnet was officially launched, and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has completed his first transaction on the Polygon zkEVM mainnet.

However, the price of the MATIC token did not rise as users expected; instead, it dropped by 5% within 24 hours, currently priced at $1.04. Of course, this is partly influenced by the overall market, and the main reason is that it is currently only a test version; perhaps we need to wait for the official mainnet launch to truly see the impact.

Compared to the FUD incident with Binance, the market's attention to the zkEVM mainnet test version seems to be relatively low. Nevertheless, the launch of the Polygon zkEVM mainnet indicates that there has been a significant breakthrough in the ZK Rollup scaling solution regarding EVM compatibility.

The Polygon zkEVM mainnet can seamlessly collaborate with most existing Ethereum smart contracts, development tools, and wallets, allowing Ethereum developers to migrate applications to the chain with one click; users can also experience its on-chain ecological applications through familiar Ethereum wallets using the "zkEVM-testnet RPC" nodes.

According to the Polygon zkEVM explorer, less than 24 hours after the mainnet test version went live, 7,821 transactions have been completed, 598 batches of transactions submitted, and 7,873 blocks generated.

Polygon zkEVM Principle

Polygon zkEVM is an Ethereum Layer 2 zkEVM scaling solution built on ZK Rollup technology, which uses "zero-knowledge proofs" to implement the Rollup scaling solution.

Specifically, under the ZK Rollup scaling solution, transactions are executed off-chain (Layer 2), complex calculations are completed, and multiple transaction data are processed in batches and compressed. A "zero-knowledge proof" result of the off-chain computation is then created and submitted to the mainnet (Layer 1) for proof verification. Validators on the mainnet can quickly check whether this proof is correct and store the data portion on the mainnet, sharing the security of the mainnet.

The data verification method of zero-knowledge proofs is precisely what distinguishes Optimistic Rollup from ZK Rollup. The former uses "fraud proofs," which require a dispute period, so transfers from L2 to L1 need to wait; the latter uses zero-knowledge proof algorithms, which can instantly check the validity of the data, allowing transfers without any waiting.

However, because the zero-knowledge proof algorithms used by ZK Rollup are relatively complex and cannot be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), developers wishing to deploy applications on this chain must not only rebuild the application but also relearn the underlying programming language suitable for this solution, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. This is also why it has been said that "in the short term, scaling solutions look to Optimistic Rollup, while in the long term, they look to ZK Rollup."

To solve the compatibility issue with EVM, some ZK Rollup scaling solutions have redesigned their underlying programming languages, while others have developed special compilers to achieve compatibility.

In addition to Polygon zkEVM, several projects in the market are already researching and deploying zkEVM-related products, competing to launch the "first" fully functional zkEVM. For example, on March 24, the zkSync Era mainnet was officially launched and opened to users; this mainnet is a zkEVM solution. In February, Scroll zkEVM announced that its Alpha testnet is now live on Goerli; StarkNet is building an EVM-compatible compiler, and the mainnet is also about to be released, among others.

So, what distinguishes Polygon zkEVM from these zkEVM projects?

Polygon zkEVM is fully equivalent to EVM, meaning developers can migrate EVM-compatible on-chain applications to this chain without modifying any code, and can use all Ethereum tools to collaborate seamlessly on the zkEVM chain.

What does the equivalence level of ZK Rollup to EVM really mean?

Truly EVM-equivalent ZK Rollups provide developers with the same experience as developing on Ethereum, supporting developers to use all the same tools and frameworks they used when developing on the Ethereum mainnet, without worrying about interruptions when deploying L1 contracts on the L2 chain. This is crucial for developers, as it means the overhead of migrating from L1 to L2 is much lower. Users can also benefit from EVM-equivalent chains, as users on EVM-equivalent chains can use familiar wallets and tools from the Ethereum mainnet.

Last August, Ethereum founder Vitalik published a blog titled "The different types of ZK-EVMs," categorizing zkEVM compatibility into four levels: fully equivalent to Ethereum, fully equivalent to EVM, almost equivalent to EVM, and high-level programming language equivalent.

On February 15, Polygon officially announced that Polygon zkEVM has passed 100% of the Ethereum test vectors applicable to zkEVM, meaning developers do not need to modify or rewrite any code, and all Ethereum tools can seamlessly collaborate with Polygon zkEVM, achieving full equivalence to EVM.

How will Polygon zkEVM affect the Polygon ecosystem?

In addition to the product and technological innovations worth noting, most ordinary users are more concerned about what impact the launch of the Polygon zkEVM mainnet Beta will have on the existing Polygon PoS sidechain and the Polygon ecological token MATIC.

According to DefiLlama data, as of March 28, the total value locked (TVL) of crypto assets on the Polygon PoS chain is $1.064 billion, ranking fourth in the entire public chain track, with 360,000 active addresses on-chain in the last 24 hours. However, the TVL has decreased by about 8% in the past 30 days.

The price of MATIC and the performance of on-chain TVL data seem to reflect a general market interest in Polygon zkEVM.

Additionally, some have questioned: "Will Polygon zkEVM replace Polygon PoS?"

The official response from Polygon is "NO," stating that zkEVM is not intended to replace the PoS sidechain.

Polygon co-founder Mihailo Bjelic also stated in an interview that "the launch of Polygon zkEVM will be a separately operating blockchain network, while the Polygon PoS chain will continue to operate as a sidechain. There will be two parallel-running networks within the Polygon ecosystem, each with different value propositions, namely functionality and trade-offs, allowing developers to choose networks based on different considerations of security, scalability, and transaction costs. However, the PoS sidechain is not as secure as ZK Rollup because ZK Rollup stores its transaction data on the Ethereum main chain, inheriting the same security as the Ethereum blockchain; the PoS sidechain's data exists on its own chain and is not stored on Ethereum."

Additionally, Mihailo Bjelic mentioned plans for the Polygon PoS chain to undergo some ZK-based enhancements, believing that this scaling technology can drive the development of its ecosystem. They are exploring how to integrate ZK technology into the Polygon PoS chain to improve its security. However, he also stated that if Polygon PoS becomes ZK-compatible, it would only use proofs like those in ZK Rollups to ensure transactions are not fraudulent, and it still would not store data on Ethereum but rather on its own network or other separate networks off-chain. Unlike ZK Rollup, it does not store data on Ethereum but on a separate network off-chain.

Since Polygon zkEVM is a separate blockchain network, many users are confused about whether it will issue a separate token.

Polygon zkEVM's official documentation states that the native token ETH will be used to pay for gas fees on the zkEVM chain. MATIC can be used for on-chain staking governance. Regarding the issuance of a new token, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal had previously stated on Twitter, "Too many people are asking about tokens; MATIC will become the on-chain staking token within the Polygon ecosystem, and the default token for gas fees on-chain will be ETH."

Thus, MATIC's role in the Polygon ecosystem is as a governance token, primarily used for the secure operation and maintenance of the Polygon zkEVM network and other chains, such as staking MATIC on the Polygon PoS sidechain to become an operating node; staking MATIC on zkEVM to gain the right to order submitted transaction data, etc. ETH is only used as a means of paying gas fees on-chain.

What on-chain ecological applications are available on Polygon zkEVM?

Given the high security of zkRollup, low gas fees, real-time verification of transaction data, and no waiting for transfers, Polygon zkEVM is more suitable for building DeFi, NFTs, GameFi, enterprise applications, and payment applications.

Currently, Polygon zkEVM has officially announced several cooperative ecosystems. On March 24, the Web3 game developer zkMeta will use zkEVM to establish a GameFi-specific zkRollup network on the Polygon network; on March 20, the gaming public chain Immutable announced a partnership with Polygon to build a dedicated gaming zkEVM blockchain; on March 28, the Layer 2 cross-rollup bridge Orbiter Finance announced that it has integrated the Polygon zkEVM network, allowing users to transfer assets between Polygon zkEVM and other supported networks.

In addition to cooperative projects, there are also native cross-chain bridges, DEXs, and other products on the Polygon zkEVM chain.

Official cross-chain bridge zkEVM Bridge------ supports users in transferring assets between L1 and zkEVM (L2). Currently, it only supports users transferring ETH between zkEVM-testnet and Ethereum Goerli Testnet.

Decentralized trading platform Clober------ is a native order book DEX on the zkEVM chain, enabling order matching and trade settlement on-chain.

Lending application 0VIX------ is an over-collateralized lending platform that allows users to deposit or lend assets built on zkEVM.

Additionally, to commemorate the launch of the zkEVM mainnet test version, Polygon has issued a commemorative NFT "To Ethereum, with Love," which is now open for minting; feel free to mint one and experience it.