You probably heard @0xPolygon making big headlines with their zkEVM launch
So now you may be wondering, what the heck is zkEVM?
Word on the street is that it's a yuuge deal for Ethereum!
But what is it really, and what is its impact??
Thread 🧵
$MATIC $ETH
We'll try to explain with an analogy
Let's say Ethereum is the most popular Mall in your area.
And we know Malls tend to get very crowded on the weekends
Now, let's say you're going to the Mall on a Sunday by car.
So it's sure to have heavy traffic, and you probably will have to wait 30-40 minutes just to get parking!
Basically, it's slow and also expensive because of high fuel prices.
But you know what the rich guys do?
They go for Valet parking
They don’t care about the cost, they just want to reach the mall in time.
This is exactly what’s happening to Ethereum Now.
The rich whales pay high gas fees for their transactions to go thru, while plebs have to wait and also pay the base gas fee for their transaction to go thru.
This is where Polygon comes in...
Polygon makes it 2-3x faster and 10x cheaper to use Ethereum
But How?
Let's come back to the analogy.
Say, there is a city bus to the mall.
The city bus picks up people in Batches and takes them to the mall.
It's cheaper and more efficient.
This is exactly how SCALING works...
Ethereum is the Layer 1 or, in our case, the mall.
Polygon is a Layer 2, which makes the experience of going to the mall much smoother.
But, Polygon is not the only Layer 2 solution!
There are two others already in the market, Optimism and ZK layer 2 solutions.
Let's get back to the analogy...👇
Optimism is the city bus to the mall.
It takes time but is cheap.
@arbitrum and @optimismFND $OP are two live examples of Optimistic type Layer 2 solutions
ZK is like taking a metro train to the mall.
It's fast and cheap but takes time to develop the train
@StarkWareLtd and @loopringorg $LRC are two live examples.
Now, let's assume that shops inside the malls are akin to dapps within Ethereum
For, eg.
Nike store -> AAVE
Adidas store -> Uniswap
For Optimism and ZK, even though they can access the mall, the stores must make some difficult changes from their end to actually service the Optimism and ZK customers.
Now, this is where zkEVM comes to play!
In zkEVM, you get the metro train + easy transition for stores like Nike and Adidas to service the customers
It's basically The Holy Grail
EVM stands for Ethereum Virtual Machine.
So if you have EVM, it's easier for Nike and Adidas to service you.
So last day, Polygon Announced the "1st" zkEVM
But tbh, it's not the first...
twitter.com/0xPolygon/status/1549716947847479302?s=20&t=fSK2AFmhlhZEwfsyYQNSfw
The day before, @Scroll_ZKP announced their zkEVM.
twitter.com/Scroll_ZKP/status/1549268276152500225?s=20&t=fSK2AFmhlhZEwfsyYQNSfw
Last December, @zksync launched a test net of their zkEVM
They also just announced the date for the main net launch!
twitter.com/zksync/status/1549757888641437696?s=20&t=fSK2AFmhlhZEwfsyYQNSfw
Polygon may not be the first, but it is certainly the loudest!
Nonetheless, it's incredible news
More competition = More Innovation = Win for end users
Let the Layer 2 zkEVM wars commence🫡
Thread inspired by @MilkRoadDaily
twitter.com/MilkRoadDaily/status/1549860200462503937?s=20&t=fSK2AFmhlhZEwfsyYQNSfw
Great Thread by @0xfoobar for a more detailed understanding
twitter.com/0xfoobar/status/1549779031314284544?s=20&t=fSK2AFmhlhZEwfsyYQNSfw