Polygon Labs Plans $5M Purchase of Fabric's ZK-Optimized Server Systems

Polygon Labs, a major Ethereum layer-2 developer, has announced plans to purchase $5 million worth of server systems optimized for zero-knowledge (ZK)

Polygon Labs, a major Ethereum layer-2 developer, is set to purchase $5 million worth of server systems optimized for zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography processing from hardware maker Fabric, the companies announced Wednesday.

The acquisition is part of a partnership aimed at accelerating the development of Polygon’s AggLayer, an interoperability solution designed to enable seamless token transfers between affiliated blockchain networks.

Fabric is producing custom zero-knowledge chips, called verifiable processing units (VPUs), specifically for the AggLayer project. Polygon’s ZK team has been collaborating with Fabric to create VPUs tailored for its prover libraries, Plonky2 and Plonky3. These provers are crucial components in blockchain systems built around zero-knowledge cryptography, which has emerged as a key focus for Polygon and a hot topic in the crypto industry.

The partnership follows Fabric’s recent $33 million Series A funding round, in which Polygon Labs participated. Fabric’s VPUs are custom chips designed to optimize cryptography and blockchain processes. According to Polygon co-founder Mihailo Bjelic, these specialized chips may significantly accelerate the timeline for wider adoption of ZK technology, cutting out the time required for development and research.

“Implementing this tech will massively accelerate the development of the AggLayer, bringing real-time, affordable proofs … and much lower proving costs than previously thought possible in the medium-term,” Bjelic said.

The partnership aims to overcome current limitations in ZK-proof generation by developing hardware specifically optimized for the task, paving the way for more efficient and scalable blockchain solutions.

In related news, Polygon has begun migrating its MATIC tokens to POL, working toward a new ‘hyperproductive’ phase for the token’s utility.