Polygon acquires Mir Protocol for $400 Million

Polygon, known for its layer-2 solutions, has added another startup to its fast-expanding ecosystem. It has bought a ZK scaling solution startup that works on scaling transactions on the Ethereum blockchain called Plonky2.

What are Zk-rollups ? As people started building on the Ethereum blockchain, the need for faster processing speed and cheaper transactions have increased. Zero-knowledge rollups (ZK rollups) are the solution to making this happen. It is a layer 2 solution that allows blockchains to validate transactions faster while also keeping the gas fees low. It involves an on and off-chain process. Zk rollups speed up transactions as it validates them without using all the transaction data posted on the chain.

1/8 It's official: #Polygon welcomes @MirProtocol, a groundbreaking ZK startup in a $400M deal!

Mir's amazing team developed the world’s fastest ZK scaling tech; we are joining hands to utilize it and build Polygon Zero - a highly-scalable, Ethereum-compatible ZK Rollup. 🦄💫 pic.twitter.com/99m7Y0tDTN

— Polygon | $MATIC - We're hiring! (@0xPolygon) December 9, 2021

This is a part of Polygon's $1Billion fund focused on acquiring ZK-based solutions. It has previously acquired Hermez, which works on the same technology. The whole team of Mir protocol will be joining Polygon zero, whose aim is to build the worlds fastest ZK scaling technology. The deal involves 190 Million MATIC tokens and $100 million worth of USDC.

"It is a great piece of engineering. Plonky2 can generate recursive proofs in an incredible 170 milliseconds on a laptop. Most importantly, plonky2 is practical to use on Ethereum, with 45kb proofs in size-optimized mode," said Mihailo Bjelic, co-founder of Polygon