ABCDE: Why did we invest in Polyhedra Network?

Original source: ABCDE Capital

PolyHedra Network is a ZK full-stack project with a core team from UC Berkeley, Tsinghua University, and Stanford University. It has developed deVirgo and paraPlonk, two advanced ZKP protocols, to achieve full-stack ZK interoperability and scalability.

Polyhedra Network has received a strategic round of investment totaling $10 million from top global VC (See coindesk for more details). ABCDE also invested in PolyHedra Network.

1. ZK extensibility vs. ZK interoperability

We know that the Internet, blockchain, and Metaverse all need to be connected, but today's multi-linked world is full of islands, and mobility and data availability are becoming increasingly fragmented. While most cutting-edge ZK projects such as zkRollup and zkEVM/zkVM focus on scalability, ZK interoperability has been neglected. So, in contrast to Starkware, Zksync and other projects focused on ZK scalability, Polyhedra Network is a ZK full-stack hexagon player, designing and implementing ZK-based interoperability system zkBridge, The ZKP protocol can also improve the efficiency of existing zkRollup systems, taking into account ZK interoperability and ZK scalability.

In terms of ZK interoperability, PolyHedra Network implements deVirgo, the industry's top distributed ZK protocol, and is used to implement zkBridge and ZKDID, providing Web3 with no-trust and efficient interoperability infrastructure. Currently, zkBridge's test network is online and supports cross-chain interoperation between Ethereum, BNB Chain, Cosmos and other different blockchain networks.

Virgo is a GKR protocol based on error-correcting codes and hash functions, the same cryptographic assumptions used by Starkware and Polygon Zero. The Virgo protocol does not require trusted initialization, so the average user with a laptop or mobile phone does not need to download large amounts of data from a server (a well-known industry problem) to become a Prover. Virgo is also one of the fastest ZKP protocols available.

deVirgo is a highly efficient distributed ZKP protocol based on Virgo protocol. deVirgo's near-perfect linear scalability means that in a distributed computing network with M computers, the proof generation time can be reduced by nearly M times. Furthermore, in deVirgo, communication across distributed computing networks is minimized in the primary computation in Virgo (the GKR part). With deVirgo, zkBridge's proofs can be generated even faster, up to 100 times faster than with single-threaded Virgo.

What about zkBridge and zkDID through distributed deVirgo?

1.1 zkBridge

The Polyhedra Network project has implemented the deVirgo protocol, and based on the deVirgo design and engineering implementation of zkBridge. Currently, the test network of zkBridge has been launched. Support for cross-chain asset and data interoperability of various layer-1 and layer-2 blockchain networks including Etherum, BNB Chain, Cosmos, Polygon, etc., provides a trust-free and efficient infrastructure for cross-chain interoperability in Web3. For integration with various Web3 applications such as Defi and GameFi, Polyhedra Network implements developer-friendly apis to help them easily develop cross-chain and multi-chain applications.

For blockchains with a light client protocol, Polyhedra Network compilers the light client protocol into a zk-SNARK circuit and proves that the light client protocol is executed correctly. The receiving chain can efficiently verify the execution of the light client protocol. By using a modular architecture, zkBridge built by Polyhedra Network can support a variety of applications, such as cross-chain transfer and exchange of assets, cross-chain messaging, and related computational logic related to state changes and synchronization across multiple blockchain networks.

1.2 zkDID

This is a scalable and interoperable DID solution based on SBT and verifiable credentials using ZKP, and has launched the zkDID test Net. zkDID's goal is to support millions of verifiable credentials per second and help billions of users with Web3 infrastructure and applications. In addition, zkDID uses ZKP to implement the proposed Vitalik basedstealth addressPrivacy solutions to give users fine-grained control over their personal information. The zkDID infrastructure is compatible with W3C standards and any verifiable creditable data type, and can interoperate across a variety of Web3 and Web2 systems based on zkBridge, significantly simplifying communication between interested parties involved in the Web3 DID system.

Second, zk scalability based on paraPlonk

In addition to ZK interoperability, Polyhedra Network also designed and implemented paraPlonk, which in experiments provided acceleration to existing zkRollup systems.

The paraPlonk protocol is a series of new generation ZKP protocols based on Segregation-friendly and concise proof technology. Through the paraPlonk protocol, the nodes in a cluster can collectively generate ZKP proofs in the same way that they can join a mining pool. In the paraPlonk protocol, only a very small amount of data needs to be broadcast and communicated between nodes in the cluster to generate proofs. The paraPlonk protocol is compatible with Plonk and is a generic version of Plonk. It greatly reduces the communication overhead between distributed Plonk nodes while retaining all the advantages of Plonk. So any Plonk-based proof system can be migrated to paraPlonk with minimal modification. paraPlonk's protocol design is also compatible with other zero-knowledge proof systems, such as Marlin and Gemini. The Marlin and Gemini protocols were also co-invented by founding members of the Polyhedra Network, and the Marlin protocol is currently in use in Aleo.

Three, ZK full-stack

The vision of Polyhedra Network is to become a zk full-stack project that combines zk interoperability and zk extensibility in a true sense, and fully realizes the interconnection between Web2 and Web3 worlds with zk components such as zkBridge and zkDID.

At the infrastructure level, PolyHedra Network implements zkBridge through an advanced zero-knowledge proof protocol scheme and links any two blockchains through zkBridge. paraPlonk provides acceleration for existing zk-Rollup and scalability for Layer-1 blockchain.

In the middleware and application layer, PolyHedra Network implements zkDID and zkOracle through interoperability technology to realize the interconnection between Web2 and Web3 world.

As the PolyHedra Network name "PolyHedra", PolyHedra Network is truly a full stack hexagon warrior with both zk interoperability and zk extensibility.

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