Polygon Labs and the NEAR Foundation are in the final stages of an agreement to develop a zero-knowledge (ZK) prover for Wasm blockchains. This collaboration aims to bridge Wasm-based chains with the Ethereum ecosystem, which is expanding with a growing number of multichain Polygon CDK chains, through the introduction of a zkWasm prover.

Through this unique partnership, the NEAR Foundation will collaborate with Polygon Labs as the main contributor to the Polygon CDK (Chain Development Kit). Developers utilizing the Polygon CDK will benefit from increased flexibility provided by the zkWasm prover, which comprises open-source software components designed to simplify the creation and implementation of ZK-enhanced Layer 2 solutions on Ethereum.

According to Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, partnering with the NEAR Foundation will accelerate the development and adoption of ZK technology. He sees the zkWasm prover as unlocking full developer customizability potential, allowing projects to choose from various provers while building with the Polygon CDK.

Wasm (WebAssembly) is a popular framework for executing complex programs in a browser, providing functionalities akin to traditional computer applications, thus offering advantages for highly sophisticated applications. In the realm of Web3, the Wasm Virtual Machine serves as a runtime within blockchains such as Near and Polkadot, distinct from the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

The upcoming zkWasm prover will serve as the latest runtime for generating zero-knowledge proofs, ensuring compatibility with the conventional Wasm runtime implementation while enhancing decentralization and upgradeability.

This innovation has the potential to facilitate connectivity between the NEAR protocol and Ethereum, enabling Wasm chains to tap into Ethereum liquidity. Additionally, developers using the Polygon CDK will have the option to utilize a different but equally effective prover for chain implementation, enhancing interoperability across a networked ecosystem comprising L2 Polygon CDK chains, bridged Layer 1s, EVM Layer 2s, and Wasm chains.