Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder of Polygon, a layer-2 blockchain platform, shared his vision of creating a scalable and interoperable Ethereum ecosystem powered by zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs.
He delivered a keynote speech at the Token2049 conference in Singapore, where he discussed the progress of “Polygon 2.0” and the potential of recursive ZK-proof technology.
Nailwal compared Web2 and Web3, saying that both aim to provide fast and seamless information transfer across the globe.
However, he argued that Web3 also needs to achieve “practically unlimited scalability” and enable cross-chain transactions in a secure and decentralized way.
To achieve this goal, Nailwal said that Polygon is investing $1 billion in developing ZK-proof solutions for Ethereum.
He explained that ZK-proofs can verify complex computations without revealing any sensitive data, thus enhancing privacy and efficiency.
He also said that Polygon is working on a zkEVM chain, which will allow Ethereum-compatible smart contracts to run on a ZK-proof layer.
Nailwal also emphasized the importance of interoperability among different blockchains. He said that Polygon is building bridges to connect various layer-1 and layer-2 platforms, such as Bitcoin, Polkadot, Cosmos, and Avalanche.
He claimed that cross-chain transactions could be executed in four to five seconds, which is one third of an Ethereum block time. He said that this would create a feeling of “one single big block space.”
Nailwal concluded by saying that Polygon’s vision is to create a high-liquidity network that can support various applications and use cases.
He also revealed that some of the major layer-1 blockchains have expressed interest in joining Polygon’s interoperable ecosystem.