Polygon has proposed Polygon 2.0 architecture through an announcement, informing the community that Polygon is on the edge of becoming the Value Layer of the Internet. The architecture of the new installment is designed to support unlimited scalability and unified liquidity.
There are a total of four protocol layers in the new architecture. These are Staking Layer, Interop Layer, Execution Layer, and Proving Layer. Every Layer has a specific function to perform and a role to play. Thereby largely contributing to facilitating the important process within the ecosystem.
Staking Layer leverages the potential of Polygon’s MATIC to provide decentralization to Polygon chains that are a part of the mechanism. It is a Proof-of-Stake-based protocol, teased to roll out out-of-the-box solutions in the said segment. Elements that back Staking Layer are a decentralized pool of validators and an in-built staking model.
Validators, through Staking Layer, are able to earn rewards in Polygon tokens along with an additional revenue stream through transaction fees. Needless to say, the actual rewards depend on the chain they validate. Polygon Chain focuses on use cases and communities with a slight relief in the front of infrastructure.
Interop Layer, as the name nearly suggests, enables cross-chain messaging services. However, the facility is largely restricted to working just inside the ecosystem. The Layer removes all the possible complexities of transactions that happen between different chains. This makes way for the bunch to become a single chain via seamless composability and shared access to native assets of Ethereum.
Interop Layer is based on the LxLy protocol and derives the concept from Message Queues. Interestingly, the LxLy protocol is also used by Polygon zkEVM.
The convenience of cross-chain messages is further backed by the concept of Aggregator.
The execution Layer enables the production of sequenced batches of blocks, also known as transactions. It works on every Polygon chain and has multiple components working for it. This includes P2P, Database, Consensus, Mempool, and Syncing, among many others.
Blockchain networks observing the components include but are not limited to, Ethereum and Bitcoin. The Execution Layer is common for a lot of blockchain networks. The only factor that goes against it is the complexity involved in implementation.
Proving Layer has three components, namely Common Prover, State Machine Constructor, and State Machine. It is defined as a performant and flexible proving protocol that is tasked with providing transactions for all the chains on Polygon.
Common Prover is deployed to prove transactions, State Machine Constructor takes up the job of defining state machines, and State Machine, in turn, interprets transactions.
When combined, the benefits that roll out are efficiency in verification & proof generation, straightforward proof aggregation, defining a different ZK state machine, and safety in communication that happens across several chains.
