Polygon Unveils ZK-Rollup Solution Miden to Scale Ethereum

The Polygon group has launched Miden, a brand new scaling answer primarily based on zero-knowledge proofs.

Polygon Provides Layer 2 Solution

Polygon has launched a brand new Layer 2 ZK-Rollup answer known as Miden. The answer makes use of zero-knowledge STARKs, in any other case generally known as ZK-STARKs—a kind of cryptographic proof know-how that may confirm knowledge or computation with out revealing them to a 3rd get together.

Miden is the newest mission developed beneath Polygon’s $1 billion fund allotted to ZK-based initiatives. In August, the Polygon group acquired the ZK-Rollup answer Hermez Community for $250 million. The next month, it launched Nightfall, a separate privacy-focused rollup inbuilt collaboration with EY.

Whereas Polygon is understood for working the most important sidechain network on Ethereum, the group can also be growing a number of Layer 2 scaling options, together with Optimistic Rollups and ZK-Rollups.

These scaling options goal to assist Ethereum good contracts obtain the excessive efficiency wanted for mass adoption by rising speeds and lowering prices with out compromising on safety. It’s hoped that scaling will assist Ethereum assist dApps specializing in use circumstances like gaming, NFTs, and social media.

In a press launch, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal stated that Miden would assist “speed up validation for DeFi apps and cryptocurrencies,” earlier than including that zero-knowledge proofs are key to serving to Ethereum scale. He stated:

“ZK is the best way forward for Ethereum, and Miden VM is likely one of the most essential components in Polygon’s roadmap for Ethereum scalability.”

Ethereum’s ZK-Rollups enable transactions to be batched and create a cryptographic proof. This in flip reduces the load on the bottom chain and allows cheaper and quicker transactions. Nevertheless, whereas ZK-Rollups reduce congestion and gasoline charges, they’re restricted of their skill to validate all transactions off-chain. Polygon says that Miden will tackle the difficulty by leveraging the Miden Digital Machine (VM), a digital structure designed to assist the processing of good contracts on the Layer 2 stage.

Miden VM is predicated on Distaff VM, a STARK-based digital machine developed by the Ethereum engineer Bobbin Threadbare. He has joined Polygon as Miden Lead to implement STARKs throughout the Polygon ecosystem.

Threadbare instructed Crypto Briefing that Miden differs from Hermez in that it’s a “pure STARK-based answer” that may leverage its personal digital machine. Hermez, nevertheless, depends on full compatibility with the Ethereum Digital Machine.

Whereas Hermez will likely be absolutely EVM-compatible, Miden’s compatibility will solely exist on the Solidity stage. Solidity is Ethereum’s programming language; it’s used to write good contracts on the community. Boobin defined:

“Miden is a rollup, so it’s extra related to Hermez than a Proof-of-Stake chain. It’s completely different from Hermez in that it’s a pure STARK-based answer, whereas Hermez plans to use STARKs and Groth16. The opposite distinction is that Hermez is planning to emulate the EVM on the op-code stage, whereas Miden may have its personal VM to which individuals will likely be ready to compile Solidity code.”

Sooner or later, Polygon plans to combination all of its scaling options, together with its Proof-of-Stake sidechain, Hermez Community, Miden, and Dusk. Whereas the Polygon ecosystem has seen large development in 2021, Miden will nonetheless have to compete with quite a lot of different promising zero knowledge-based scaling options, together with Matter Labs’ zkSync and StarkWare’s Cairo.

Disclosure: On the time of writing, the writer of this function owned ETH, MATIC, and several other different cryptocurrencies.  

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