As a seasoned crypto investor and developer with a deep understanding of the Ethereum ecosystem, I’ve been closely following Polygon’s progress in scaling up ZK technology for quite some time now. Their latest announcement regarding the production readiness and open-source licensing of Plonky3, their next-generation zero-knowledge (ZK) proving system, has piqued my interest once again.


Polygon announced that its latest zero-knowledge (ZK) proving system, named Plonky3, has been made available for use by developers. The organization confirmed that the open-source software has undergone an audit and is deemed secure for integration into projects.

As a researcher at Polygon Labs, I’m thrilled to share that Polygon Plonky3, our advanced zero-knowledge proving system, has reached production readiness and is now open-source under MIT/Apache licenses.

Plonky3 serves as a proof mechanism that enables blockchains and applications built using Zero-Knowledge (ZK) technology to validate transactions and states with strong cryptographic assurances. Polygon’s initiatives to expand the Ethereum ecosystem have been largely driven by ZK tech, as evidenced by their layer 2 rollup chain, Polygon zkEVM. This innovative solution delivers impressive throughput and significantly reduced gas fees for developers and users alike.

Additionally, Plonky3 introduces a modular design for constructing expansive blockchain frameworks, making it simple for developers to incorporate this technology into their projects.

Polygon highlighted the technology’s modular design, explaining that this feature brings about greater innovation. Already, projects like Valida and Succinct Labs’ SP1 have adopted Polygon’s Plonky3 zkVM (Zero-Knowledge Virtual Machine). Consequently, any subsequent project constructing with these zkVMs inherently utilizes Plonky3 as well.

Additionally, Polonky3 in Polygon offers developers the flexibility to prioritize between accelerated computation and compact proofs. Consequently, they can optimize applications for superior scalability according to these preferences. A developer focusing on speed would configure Polygon Plonky3 differently than one seeking minimal proof size, as stated by Polygon.

Plonky3 represents an advancement over its predecessor, Plonky2, due to its modular design. This feature enables developers to customize the proof construction mechanism according to their specific projects, making it more adaptable than Plonky2 which, while revolutionary, offered less flexibility.

“While Plonky2 was designed as a specialized proving system for swift recursive computations by prioritizing hardware optimization, Polygon Plonky3 functions as an open-source kit enabling ZK (Zero-Knowledge) developers to construct their custom zkVMs or zkEVMs.”

As a crypto investor in Polygon, I’m excited about this launch as it underscores Polygon Labs’ dedication to introducing innovative zero-knowledge (ZK) solutions to the decentralized world. With Polygon Plonky3, developers can leverage these advanced implementations and collaborate with Polygon to create the next wave of decentralized applications (dApps). In my perspective, Polygon Labs’ investment in open-source ZK technology is a game-changer for achieving reliable off-chain computations.

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2024-07-18 00:50