By
Benjamin Njiri
April 23rd, 2024
Polygon unveils the public testnet of its Layer 2 zkEVM scaling solution and would allow DeFi protocols Uniswap and Aave to test different functions.
As the race for a dominant Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution picks up, Polygon makes a move by launching a new zkEVM public testnet. This public testnet will specifically cater to Ethereum scaling solution Hermez, which Polygon acquired last year for $250 million.
Hermez runs atop the Ethereum mainnet and helps in boosting its scalability. It also allows the Ethereum network to process more transactions at cheaper costs. The Layer 2 scaling solution Hermez is nothing but zkEVM. In comparison to other Layer 2s, the zkEVM offers added benefits around security and application customization. Speaking on the development, Polygon Co-founder Mihailo Bjelic said that “it was widely believed that zkEVM will take several more years to ship, which makes this an even more groundbreaking milestone, not only for Polygon but for the whole Web3 industry”.
The zkEVMs further enhance the benefits of all Layer 2s. It allows developers to create zero-knowledge (ZK) applications by leveraging the industry standard coding language Solidity. Thus, applications and developers will receive all scaling and security benefits offered by ZK. Interestingly, they don’t need to learn any extra coding language for the same.
The announcement from the Polygon team notes:
“We’re proud to say we’re the first zkEVM to reach public testnet with an open-source ZK proving system”.
Polygon Experimenting with Scaling Solution Hermez
After the launch of Hermez, DeFi protocols like Aave and Uniswap can be deployed on the testnet. As a result, these protocols and their users can experiment with Hermez. Besides, it will help the Aave and Uniswap team test the bugs that could occur ahead of the mainnet launch. Polygon Hermez Co-founder David Schwartz said:
“Ultimately, Polygon zkEVM is the next step in Ethereum’s journey, and we are moving towards giving our users the full benefits of a working zkEVM — scalability without compromise. We have some work to do before we fully achieve those goals, and we’re eager to find out exactly what needs improvement and receive feedback”.
Polygon also noted that all of the tools, applications, and user wallets currently running on the PoS mainnet will be available for testing on zkEVM. Polygon said that this launch will further help in giving the Ethereum community the power of ZK Proofs.
Note that the testnet version of Polygon zkEVM has limited throughput capacity. It’s still far from its final form of being an optimized scaling solution.