Polygon outlined its vision for a new architecture for its layer-two blockchain solution in mid-June and it could now be getting ready to hand over some additional tokens to its existing investors.
Even though an airdrop has not been officially confirmed by Polygon Labs, the parent company of the crypto project, it is possible that a new token will be created to operate in this upcoming version 2.0 of Polygon aside from its native one MATIC.
The first of the proposals made by the Polygon Labs team was an upgrade to its Polygon PoS solution – which is a roll-up of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The new version of the Polygon PoS would be called the zkEVM validium and will aim to reduce transaction costs and increase processing speed.
The difference between the zkEVM Rollup – which is the existing protocol – is that publishing data on Ethereum is more expensive. With zkEVM Validium, the proof of each transaction will still be processed on the layer-one Ethereum blockchain but the data will not be retrieved from it, meaning that the cost of using this solution should be lower than that of its peer.
Who Will Receive a Polygon 2.0 Airdrop If It Occurs?
If a new token is released for the Polygon 2.0 ecosystem to differentiate the protocol from its predecessor, those who hold Polygon (MATIC) tokens should receive the corresponding allocation.
This will not necessarily translate into earnings unless the value of MATIC or the new token increase as a result of the market’s positive attitude toward the news. However, it will permit token holders to transact by using the newly proposed architecture.
According to the project’s roadmap, the tokenomics of the Polygon 2.0 project should be revealed next week, meaning that, if an airdrop is set to occur, it will be pretty soon. Investors who would like to receive some of the tokens to be handed over via the airdrop must make sure that they are active in the Polygon community and overall infrastructure.
This means that they should either stake their MATIC tokens, become a liquidity provider for the protocol, or participate in some other way on the existing zkEVM infrastructure.
By connecting a non-custodial wallet to the zkEVM bridge and holding and transacting with MATIC tokens, it is highly likely that an investor will be advantageously positioned to receive an upcoming Polygon 2.0 airdrop.
How Does the Newly Proposed Architecture Work?
1/ Polygon 2.0 is a concrete vision to build the Value Layer of the Internet, and expand Ethereum to Internet-scale.
It is a series of proposals for unlimited scalability & unified liquidity.
Why is this such a big deal? pic.twitter.com/Jv7PvRfxFN
— Polygon (@0xPolygon) June 22, 2023
Scaling has been a fundamental issue for blockchains since their inception. While new blockchains are added to meet demand, this ultimately fragments liquidity and harms the user experience.
Polygon 2.0 seeks to solve this issue by creating an “elastically scalable, unified environment” for transacting value, similar to how the Internet provides a unified environment for accessing information.
Since Polygon was created, its developers have experimented with various blockchain architectures and technologies, including different sidechains, rollups, and client architectures. This experimentation generated many important lessons.
Also read: How to Earn Interest on MATIC – Best Polygon Interest Accounts
The next phase involves converging and consolidating these ideas into a solution. Polygon’s engineering teams have proposed a formal protocol architecture as the optimal infrastructure.
The Polygon 2.0 architecture consists of 4 layers: the Staking Layer, Interop Layer, Execution Layer, and Proving Layer.
The Staking Layer uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and Polygon’s native token to provide decentralization to Polygon chains. It manages a common validator pool that Polygon chains can leverage, providing “decentralization out of the box.”
The Interop Layer enables secure cross-chain messaging within Polygon, making the network feel like a “single chain”. It allows users to transfer native Ethereum assets across chains and enable near-instant cross-chain transactions. Meanwhile, the Execution Layer produces sequenced batches of transactions, or blocks, for any Polygon chain, reusing existing performant implementations wherever possible.
Finally, the Proving Layer generates zero-knowledge proofs for all transactions, both internal and cross-chain, for every Polygon chain. It uses a highly efficient zero-knowledge prover and modular “state machine” implementations that can support various transaction formats.
Polygon Labs believes this proposed protocol architecture should direct all future Polygon development, serving as the “conceptual North Star and the formal development framework.”
The new Polygon 2.0 architecture aims to achieve unlimited scalability through an elastic, modular design with separate layers for different functions.
The end result would be an environment where developers can build applications with access to low transaction costs, fast finality and a unified liquidity pool. If successful, Polygon 2.0 could represent an important step towards achieving the vision of blockchain as the “Value Layer of the Internet.” The new architecture would also allow Polygon to maintain its experimental and innovative culture while providing a formal framework for future development.