Welcome
The Polygon Knowledge Layer consists of two parts. Firstly, documents that developers need in order to build with Polygon protocols. Secondly, resources necessary for learning about Polygon technologies.
This section offers a glimpse into the future, presenting a vision that is community-driven.
The basics¶
Polygon technologies will help developers build in an elastically scalable and unified ecosystem of ZK-powered Layer 2s on Ethereum, where users can create, program and exchange value.
Polygon envisions a unified multichain ecosystem. A web of interoperable ZK-powered Ethereum L2s, with near-instant and atomic L2 <-> L2 transactions, designed to empower developers build without limitations. An ecosystem where developers can choose to build dApps, design and launch dedicated application-specific L2 chains, or migrate existing EVM Layer 1 chains to become L2s.
The endgame is to allow developers to build in an environment that feels and functions more like the internet. This means a blockchain ecosystem that can scale without limit, seamlessly unified, and backed by the decentralization and security of Ethereum.
Zero-knowledge is the key¶
Fundamentally, building this web of ZK-powered L2s comes down to one challenge: trustless, off-chain computation. In order to scale Ethereum, one needs to preserve Ethereum’s execution logic while making it more efficient.
The best way to accomplish this goal is through zero-knowledge cryptography as it is capable of providing verifiable proofs that attest to the integrity of off-chain computations. Otherwise, scaling technologies often have to add additional socio-economic mechanisms to mediate off-chain computations, which often results in delayed settlement of transactions.
Future iterations will focus on applying the open source, zero-knowledge scaling technology developed at Polygon Labs, and these advancements will enable Ethereum to scale to the limits of the internet..