Hi!
I know this question is related to Polygon but I would like to have the Ethereum community’s point of view. After all, Polygon is a scalability solution for Ethereum and each one is making the other one better.
When I read about Polygon, half of the time, it is described as a Layer 2 solution. However, upon closer examination, it appears that technically, it functions as a sidechain.
I understand the distinction between Layer 2 and sidechain at a high level: Layer 2 security relies on Ethereum, whereas a sidechain is a completely independant chain that manages its own security with its own set of validators and consensus.
Though, I don´t really understand:
- what makes people think Polygon is a Layer 2. I also could ask “What part of Polygon architecture follows the Layer 2 pattern?” ;
- what makes actually Polygon a sidechain. I also could ask “What part of Polygon architecture follows the sidechain pattern?”.
I hope my questions are clear.
Thank your for reading and sharing your thoughts / explanations!
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they deliberately created a marketing effort to make people think that way with that ambiguity. They just exploited the ingenuity of people to pump their token, and that’s one of the reasons I don’t invest on it.
I have been correcting people in reddit for ages about this topic, as there are many people who think polygon sidechain is a L2.
Someone else correct me If I’m wrong, but I think it is currently a sidechain with plans to move to a L2?
Technically, they’re going to transition from an sidechain (which is basically a fancy word for L1) into a Validium, with settlement on Ethereum but data-availability external.
There’s been debate over whether Validiums should be considered L2s, given that they don’t fully inherit Etheruem’s security.
There’s been debate over whether Validiums should be considered L2s, given that they don’t fully inherit Etheruem’s security
In this regard, the zkEVM rollup is also not an L2 as it also doesn’t fully inherit Ethereum security
huh thanks for the insight!
I see it as a chain of its own
Yes. It’s really a sidechain. They use MATIC as gas fees while layer 2 like ARBITRUM or Optimism still use as gas fees. So I stay away from Polygon
Isn’t polygon pos a commit chain since some of their consensus mechanism has features that use the security of ethereum main chain?
Commit chain doesn’t provide any security
I could commit the state of Solana to Ethereum, but that doesn’t make Solana an L2
And it’s controlled by a 5 of 7 (or 8?) multisig? I see it as a great representation of how little security and decentralization actually matter to money grabbers.
ETH is also very centralized and is pretty unsecure.
The real layer 2 chains are not any better in this regard. Arbitrum, Optimism, etc they all have multisig admin keys that can steal funds from the bridges, etc.
Metis is trying to decentralize their sequencer if I remember correctly.
Polygon PoS is a sidechain. Polygon has a lot of other L2 solutions including zk rollups in the works that are true L2 solutions. But the original is a sidechain, which some people consider L2 if you broaden the definition to include sidechains as well.
Guilty as charged officer. I refer to anything that isn’t primarily operating on the base layer an L2. Until there’s a catch all term for that, like ‘spin-offs’ or something, I’m going to keep calling them that. Deal with it.
Why do you call it scalable? Polygon maxes out at 95 swaps per seconds.
Yes polygon currently is a Sidechain and doesn’t inherit security properties from ethereum, it doesn’t post state changes and txns to Eth mainnet
Polygon PoS is a side chain, but it calls itself a “commit chain” because it publishes checkpoints to Ethereum L1.
There is a pre-PIP proposal to change it to a zkEVM Validium. A Validium publishes validity proofs, like a rollup, but unlike a rollup it does not publish transaction data, but handles data availability (DA) itself.
Note the transaction data for rollups will only be kept around for a while with 4844 (in next Ethereum hardfork early 2024) and then purged - long enough for a fraud proof for optimistic chains.
This is meant to be a chain using validity proofs not fraud proofs. I am a little shaky as to where the trade off is in keeping the DA off the Ethereum L1 - lower cost vs? Need to read Vitalik’s paper on that again 😅
Hedgefunds suppressing an actual advanced layer 2 loopring because actual technological progression of crypto doesn’t fit into their business model
Polygon refers to the whole project, Polygon PoS is currently their main network, a sidechain that will be moved to ethereum’s Layer 2 (zkEVM). The whole project is still under development.
People probably think that because Polygon has always claimed to be a Layer 2 and the press just repeated it cause they don’t know any better.
Now that they have a half-assed zkEVM side project, they can also claim they actually are an L2, even though they really only care about their sidechain business.
Unfortunately, that’s the state of crypto these days. For most, the goal is to pretend to be decentralized, censorship resistant, trustless, anti-establishment, yadayada… all to distract from the reality that power is concentrated in the hands of a few founders and investors with even less accountability than a traditional corporation.