Designing a Future: Polygon 2.0 Aggregator Bridge Architecture

Polygon 2.0 Design Proposal

Polygon Labs, the creator of the Polygon (MATIC) network, has put forth a design for its upcoming “Polygon 2.0” project. In a June 29 blog post, the team proposed that the new project should consist of four distinct ‘layers’ that will be linked to one another through Ethereum. If given the green light by validators, Polygon 2.0 will also include an aggregator that will make bridge transactions “near-instant and atomic”, according to the team.

The team initially declared Polygon 2.0 on June 12, asserting that the new venture would create the “value layer” of the web. Nevertheless, information was limited at that point. On June 20, co-founder Mihailo Bjelic put forward improving the existing Polygon network to incorporate zero-knowledge proofs, which he mentioned was required to make the old network accordant with the “vision” of 2.0.

The post of June 30th goes into more depth about what Polygon 2.0 will be like. The basis of the project will be the existing “staking layer”. This includes a “validator manager” agreement on Ethereum, as well as a separate “chain manager” contract for each individual Polygon chain. In the future, new Polygon chains will be able to be created by launching new chain manager contracts on Ethereum.

Polygon 2.0 Components

Connecting to the base layer for staking will be an “interoperability layer” consisting of bridges linking each Polygon chain to one another via Ethereum. This layer will be safeguarded by utilizing zero-knowledge proofs to validate all transactions.

The interoperability will also include an aggregator that merges individual ZK-proofs from each bridge into one proof prior to sending it to Ethereum. This will enable bridge transactions to be “seamless” and “drastically reduce” the Ethereum gas consumption used for proof verification, according to the team.

The third layer of Polygon 2.0 will be the current execution layer which is based on the Erigon Ethereum client, and the fourth layer will be a “proving layer” that unifies the ZK-proof process among all Polygon chains.

The team declared that more information regarding each layer will be given at a later time.

Polygon is not the only one attempting to establish a multi-chain system. zkSync Era has declared its ambition to build a series of “Hyperchains” and plans to launch a testnet version before the end of the year. Moreover, Optimism is attempting to create a “Superchain” in collaboration with Coinbase’s Base network, and it recently implemented its “Bedrock” upgrade to help facilitate this transition.