Amidst allegations of code copying, Alex Gluchowski, the CEO and co-founder of Matter Labs, the creator of zkSync, has refused accusations that they copied code from Polygon Zero. Polygon Zero had accused Matter Labs of copying a "performance-critical component" of a zero-knowledge system named "Plonky2" without proper attribution. This alleged code replication was said to be part of Matter Labs' newly introduced proof system, "Boojum," raising concerns about the integrity of the developer ecosystem.
In response, Gluchowski took to X (formerly Twitter) to address these claims, categorically denying the charge of simply copy-pasting the code. In a detailed post, he emphasized that every decision made by Matter Labs in the development of zkSync was based on principles of integrity and transparency. While acknowledging the enthusiasm of the Polygon Zero team, Gluchowski pointed out that their allegations might have led to rash arguments and inaccurate statements.
He went on to clarify that both Plonky2 and Boojum are built from Matter Labs' RedShift, introduced three years prior to the publication of the Plonky2 paper. Gluchowski asserted that Plonky2 developers had not credited them despite the prior existence of RedShift. acknowledged room for improvement and pledged to adopt more standard attribution methods highlighted by the community.
Polygon Zero had expressed concerns that such code-copying practices could be detrimental to the developer ecosystem, particularly harming smaller teams who might find their work reappropriated without proper acknowledgment. The company emphasized that these actions run counter to the spirit of open-source development and could ultimately understand the collaborative nature of the industry.
