Polygon co-founder Jordi Baylina has outlined the roadmap for "Polygon 2.0," revealing plans for the convergence of various Ethereum layer 2 scaling networks into a cohesive cross-chain coordination protocol by 2024. Baylina emphasized that the upcoming year will serve as a pivotal moment to assess the integration and scalability of Polygon's diverse ecosystem networks through the implementation of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs).
Baylina highlighted the significance of 2024 as the focal point for Polygon 2.0, envisioning the interconnectedness of these networks, sharing liquidity and composability among different network variants. He pointed out that the individual networks within Polygon possess their distinct tokens, orderers, and data availability solutions. The evolution toward Polygon 2.0 involves multiple upgrades aimed at unifying these disparate protocols using ZK proof technology to create a continuous, limitless block space.
The scaling technology firm had introduced Polygon 2.0 in June 2023, outlining a framework comprising four protocol layers—staking, interoperability, execution, and proof. These layers collaboratively contribute to establishing an interconnected chain ecosystem, facilitating swift value transfer and information exchange. Reflecting on 2023, Baylina highlighted Polygon's significant milestones, including the launch of the zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) and the release of Polygon 2.0, featuring proof-of-stake integration and an aggregation layer, empowering developers to construct decentralized applications (DApps) with enhanced performance.
Polygon's progress continued with the release of the zkEVM mainnet beta in March 2023, demonstrating reduced transaction costs and increased smart contract deployment throughput. This technology enables off-chain batch processing of thousands of transactions, utilizing cryptographic proofs published minimally on the Ethereum mainnet. The open-source zkEVM emulates Ethereum's mainnet transaction execution environment, offering scalability for DApps via transaction batching.
Moreover, the release of Polygon's Chain Development Kit (CDK) in September 2023 marked a significant stride in the ecosystem's advancement. The CDK empowers developers to create custom ZK-powered layer 2 protocols on Ethereum, catering to specific project requirements. Baylina emphasized the CDK's role in providing automatic liquidity access across Polygon chains and the broader Ethereum landscape, ensuring scalable growth without liquidity fragmentation. Baylina noted the complexity of transitioning from Polygon's proof-of-stake to zkEVM validium, stressing the need for consensus and meticulous bridge migration to maintain network continuity—a challenging yet essential task for a decentralized system like Polygon.
Additionally, Polygon introduced three Polygon Improvement Proposals (PIPs) in September 2023, encompassing a transition proposal and specification, along with the rebranding of the token from MATIC to POL. These proposals detail the migration to POL as the native gas and staking token for the Polygon ecosystem, emphasizing the launch of the staking layer and migration to the Polygon public chain.
