Polygon zkEVM Plots Major Upgrade, Here’s What Will Change

Polygon zkEVM has teased a new upgrade poised to introduce a paradigm shift for developers building on the smart contract outfit.

The New Polygon zkEVM Upgrade

Since its inception, the Polygon zkEVM protocol has recorded some updates that changed structural effects on its chain. In the recently teased update, Polygon zkEVM will implement an upgrade that will enable it to act more related to the Ethereum mainnet.

The protocol said the next upgrade will make Polygon zkEVM a Type 2 ZK-EM that will empower developers to deploy their codes on Polygon zk-EVM exactly as it is on Ethereum. With this update, developers can just copy and paste their codes without additional modifications.

Known for regular upgrades, this new update is the latest in the Polygon zkEVM history and is set to position it as one of the most advanced Layer-2 scaling solutions on Ethereum. Per the update shared, the 10-day timelock for the Etrog Upgrade has been triggered and Polygon developers can join the testing phase on Cardona, the new Sepolia-anchored testnet for Polygon-zkEVM.

The next upgrade for Polygon zkEVM will, effectively, make the network a Type 2 ZK-EVM. What does that mean for developers? It means that you can deploy your code on Polygon zkEVM exactly as it is on Ethereum—just copy-paste and go, no modifications necessary.

The 10-day… pic.twitter.com/GThNxj7V6F

— Polygon (@0xPolygon) January 27, 2024

The Etrog upgrade comes with five additional pre-compiled smart contracts and also comes with new ways of processing transaction batches.

“The Etrog upgrade adds support for five precompiled smart contracts, including: ecAdd, ecMul, ecPairing, Sha256, and modexp. Existing dApps that make use of these pre-compiles can now deploy on the network without modification,” the announcement reads.

In the note shared, Polygon confirmed that once the upgrade is live, end users will not be required to make any adjustments. All functions on the Polygon zkEVM protocol will operate as normal.

Polygon’s Quest to Dominate L2, How is it Going?

The race to dominate the Ethereum Layer-2 scene is heating up with the likes of Arbitrum (ARB), Optimism (OP), and zkSync also making the limelight.

Polygon has made an effort to stay relevant with new releases including Polygon zkEVM and Polygon CDK tools. While the former is gaining traction per user base, the latter is now being embraced by crypto players like OKX and Flipkart to build diverse solutions.

While all the L2 protocols have found their niche and relevance in the Web3 world, Polygon is doubling down on its adoption by enterprise firms like Starbucks and Adidas that are launching their digital collectibles on its chain. This next Polygon upgrade is set to position it in the spotlight for functionality and usability across the board.

MATIC, the token of the Polygon ecosystem is responding positively to the news, jumping by 3.55% to $0.7845, a promising upshoot after almost a week of drawdown.