Polygon Labs Collaborates with Fabric Cryptography

Polygon Labs is teaming up with crypto hardware manufacturer Fabric Cryptography to integrate its Verifiable Processing Units (VPUs) into the AggLayer ecosystem.

About the AggLayer

The AggLayer is an interoperability layer currently under development by Polygon Labs and other key contributors. It's designed to enable unified liquidity and security across a network of chains. The technology employs ZK proofs to guarantee that a failure in one chain does not affect the funds or operations on others.

ZK Proofs Explained

ZK proofs enable one party to confirm a statement's validity to another without disclosing underlying data, thereby enhancing privacy and security within blockchain systems.

Collaboration Highlights

Polygon Labs' co-founders Daniel Lubarov, Bobbin Threadbare, Jordi Baylina, along with their ZK team, have been collaborating with Fabric since early this year to co-design the Plonky2 and Plonky3 libraries. This initiative leverages the VPU's cryptography-focused instruction set, as stated in a report shared with The Block.

Plonky2 and Plonky3 are part of Polygon Labs’ suite of ZK-proof systems known for fast and cost-efficient proof generation, which bolsters the security and scalability of blockchain transactions. These systems excel in generating recursive SNARKs, a significant advancement for the efficiency and speed of ZK proofs.

Fabric co-founder and CSO expressed enthusiasm about this collaboration, stating, "Plonky2 and Plonky3 are among the most widely adopted ZK-proof systems in the world. It’s remarkable to partner with a pioneer like Polygon Labs to make them the first ZK-proof systems powered end-to-end by custom silicon."

Featuring the VPU

Fabric claims that its VPU is the first custom chip exclusively designed for cryptographic processing. Unlike standard hardware like CPUs or GPUs, the VPU is highly programmable and can adapt as proof systems evolve.

Michael Gao, Fabric's co-founder and CEO, mentioned, "The VPU’s cryptography-native architecture delivers unprecedented performance for today’s proof systems, while our software stack ensures future-proofing for Polygon Labs’s innovations and the AggLayer."

Accelerating Zero-Knowledge Technology Adoption

Traditionally, ZK proofs have been computationally intensive, making them costly and slow to adopt. With Fabric’s technology, Polygon Labs aims to shorten the adoption period from several years to just months.

Mihailo Bjelic, co-founder of Polygon Labs, stated, "Fabric’s VPUs can reduce zero-knowledge technology adoption timelines from 3-5 years to 6-12 months. Our engineers are thrilled to work with the VPU, which promises faster proof systems without needing a chip redesign."

Polygon Labs plans to acquire $5 million worth of VPU-based server systems to enhance ZK-proof generation for projects powered by ZK on the AggLayer, including Polygon zkEVM, Polygon Miden, and Polygon CDK.

Fabric noted it has already garnered "tens of millions" in customer pre-orders, ahead of entering mass production next year.

In the previous month, Fabric announced it raised $33 million in Series A funding aimed at improving the speed and cost of cryptographic workloads, co-led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx, with Polygon Labs among the investors.