Polygon Halts 'Edge' to Focus on ZK, Dogechain Development Affected

• Polygon Labs Announces Depreciation of Support for Polygon Edge
• Use of Polygon Edge by Dogechain
• Polygon Labs and the Shift toward Polygon CDK
• Zero-Knowledge Cryptography as Core Feature
• Change in Landscape and Adoption of Polygon CDK
• Dogechain, Dogecoin, and DOGE
• Non-Endorsement of Dogechain by Dogecoin Leaders
• Migration to Polygon CDK

Polygon Labs Announces Depreciation of Support for Polygon Edge

Polygon$0.967 -3.65% Labs has announced the cessation of support for Polygon Edge$0.099 -1.12%, a blockchain template that was developed before the project's shift towards utilizing zero-knowledge cryptography as its core technology.

Use of Polygon Edge by Dogechain

Dogechain$0.00082 -4.27%, which operates independently of the Dogecoin$0.091 -0.42% project, used Polygon Edge to construct their new network. This network uses Dogecoin's DOGE as a form of payment for transactions, also known as gas fees.

Polygon Labs and the Shift toward Polygon CDK

Polygon Labs, the chief developer of the Polygon blockchain ecosystem, has ceased contributing to Polygon Edge, an open-source software that facilitates the construction of Ethereum$2,315 -2.42%-compatible networks. Dogechain, which aimed to introduce DeFi to the Dogecoin community, used Polygon Edge as a template. Polygon Labs has announced that its support for chain development has switched to the new Polygon CDK, a blueprint for creating layer-2 blockchains powered by zero-knowledge cryptography.

Zero-Knowledge Cryptography as Core Feature

Zero-knowledge cryptography, also identified as ZK, has become a crucial attribute of many new projects and upgrades in the crypto industry. The top executives at Polygon Labs began indicating this shift towards ZK early this year. March saw the launch of a new Ethereum-compatible, zero-knowledge-powered network known as Polygon zkEVM. Since then, the team has been actively engaged in recruiting blockchain builders to use the Polygon CDK, a blueprint for creating new layer-2 networks based on the original technology.

Change in Landscape and Adoption of Polygon CDK

The post on the blog read, The landscape in which Edge was developed has changed and Polygon Labs now supports a solution that empowers developers to build within a (future) unified ecosystem of ZK-powered L2s. Numerous projects, including Immutable, Astar, Canto, Gnosis$194 -2.11% Pay, and Manta Network, have already pledged their commitment to using Polygon CDK. The team is also vying to secure the Celo blockchain's migration to a layer 2, and according to sources, a new layer-2 network for the Kraken crypto exchange.

Dogechain, Dogecoin, and DOGE

Dogechain, initiated last year by developers aligning with the Dogecoin community (though no official ties exist between Dogecoin, its DOGE meme coin, and Dogechain), selected Polygon Edge as the open-source software template for the project. The project was pitched for the addition of Ethereum-style smart contracts that could help launch new DeFi protocols and NFTs. The original Dogecoin blockchain, a fork of Litecoin$75.0 0.15% (an early Bitcoin$42,260 -0.64% clone), did not support smart contracts. Dogecoin's DOGE tokens could be used to pay for Dogechain transactions as gas fees.

Non-Endorsement of Dogechain by Dogecoin Leaders

The Dogechain project has not received the endorsement of the leading figures in the Dogecoin community. Jens Wiechers, an executive board member of the Dogecoin Foundation, confirmed at the time of Dogechain's launch that no affiliation exists between the Foundation and the Dogechain project. The founders of Dogecoin also do not have ties with Dogechain. It remains unclear how Dogechain's operations or roadmap might be affected by Polygon's decision.

Migration to Polygon CDK

Polygon Labs stated in its blog post, While a variety of projects began building with Polygon Edge, many will choose to migrate to Polygon CDK, with the option to, eventually, plug into the unified CDK ecosystem.

Edited by Jonathan Stoker