The NEAR Foundation and Polygon Labs have announced a technical integration that will enable developers using Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK) to leverage NEAR Data Availability (NEAR DA) for their rollup solutions. This collaboration aims to provide cost-effective, fast, and scalable data availability for Ethereum rollups, especially at a time when data publishing costs are soaring.

What is NEAR Data Availability and Polygon Chain Development Kit?

NEAR Data Availability is a modular and efficient data availability layer that simplifies the design and implementation of Ethereum rollups. Rollups are Layer 2 scaling solutions that move computation off-chain while keeping data on-chain. By using NEAR DA, rollup builders can reduce the amount of data they need to publish on Ethereum, lowering the gas fees and increasing the throughput.

Polygon Chain Development Kit is a framework that allows developers to create custom Layer 2 chains using zero-knowledge (ZK) technology. ZK rollups are a type of rollup that use cryptographic proofs to verify the validity of off-chain transactions. Polygon CDK offers compatibility with Ethereum and supports various features such as EVM, state channels, optimistic rollups, and more.

How will the integration benefit the developers and the users?

The integration of NEAR DA with Polygon CDK will bring significant benefits to the developers and the users of Ethereum rollups. Some of the advantages are:

NEAR and Polygon Join Forces

  • Cost reduction: Developers using Polygon CDK can enjoy substantial savings in data availability costs by using NEAR DA. According to the NEAR Foundation, the price for 231 kB of calldata on NEAR is much lower than on Ethereum, which translates into a 90% cost reduction for data availability.
  • Speed and scalability: NEAR DA offers fast and reliable data availability that scales with NEAR’s sharding. This means that developers can achieve higher transaction speeds and support more users on their rollups without compromising security or decentralization.
  • Simplicity and flexibility: NEAR DA provides a complete and out-of-the-box data availability solution that can be easily integrated with Polygon CDK. Developers can focus on their core transaction logic and customize their rollups with various configurations and features.
  • Security and compatibility: NEAR DA does not affect the security guarantees of Ethereum, as the data is still published on the main chain. NEAR DA also maintains compatibility with Ethereum and supports cross-chain interoperability.

What are the future plans of NEAR and Polygon?

The NEAR Foundation and Polygon Labs have expressed their excitement and optimism about the integration and the potential it brings to the Ethereum scaling ecosystem. They also revealed their plans to collaborate on further research and development, especially on zkWASM technology. zkWASM is a technology that enables interoperability between the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and WebAssembly (WASM) ecosystems, opening up new possibilities for scalability and multi-chain compatibility. The NEAR Foundation and Polygon Labs hope to enable developers to build their own zkWASM chains on NEAR DA in the future.

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