Polygon Labs and NEAR Foundation are finalizing an agreement to produce a zero-knowledge (ZK) prover for Wasm blockchains. Connecting Wasm-oriented chains to the Ethereum ecosystem, which will also have an expanding number of multichain Polygon CDK chains, will be facilitated by a zkWasm prover.
The NEAR Foundation will be partnering with Polygon Labs as the primary contributor to the Polygon CDK (Chain Development Kit) through this unique collaboration. Developers working with the Polygon CDK will benefit from the increased flexibility given by a zkWasm prover. This is an aggregation of open-source software parts that helps simplify the process of designing and introducing ZK-boosted Layer 2s on Ethereum.
According to the co-founder of Polygon, Sandeep Nailwal, the association with the NEAR Foundation will accelerate the development and acceptance of ZK technology. In his understanding, the zkWasm prover brings out the full potential of developer customizability, helping projects to choose amongst various provers in the course of creating with Polygon CDK.
Wasm (WebAssembly) is one of the most sought-after frameworks for operating complicated programs within a browser that provides similar functions as in conventional computer applications. This generates an advantage for highly desirable applications. Where Web3 is concerned, the Wasm Virtual Machine plays the role of a runtime within blockchains like Near and Polkadot, unlike the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
The forthcoming zkWasm prover will serve as the most recent runtime for generating zero-knowledge proofs, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the conventional Wasm runtime implementation. Enhanced decentralization and enhanced upgradeability will be the resultant outcomes.
This innovation may facilitate the connection between the NEAR protocol and Ethereum, thereby enabling Wasm chains to access Ethereum liquidity. At the same time, the Wasm prover gives developers working with the Polygon CDK the option of using a different, equally effective prover for the chain’s implementation.
Chains will be able to establish connections with a networked ecosystem comprising L2 Polygon CDK-positioned chains, bridging substitute Layer 1s, EVM Layer 2s, and Wasm chains, with the assistance of an interop layer currently under development.
Co-founder ILLia Polosukhin believes that the partnership with Polygon Labs is a great chance for NEAR and the whole Web3 space to reap the benefits of zero-knowledge proofs. NEAR is increasing its integration with Ethereum in order to expand its research initiatives, which aid in the fragmentation of liquidity over several chains and the growth of the ZK space. Furthermore, the construction and operation of the zkWasm prover will reinforce the NEAR L1’s decentralization and upgradeability.
