Dencun on Triple Ethereum data availability: Founder of Polygon zkEVM

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade, which will take place in mid-March, is expected to provide improved data availability for Layer 2 (L2) solutions in a cost-efficient manner. Polygon zkEVM co-founder Jordi Baylina discussed the significance of the Dencun for Layer 2s such as Polygon zkEVM, and in particular the introduction of EIP-4844.

During an Ethereum Core Developer meeting, developers discussed EIP-4844, a long-awaited scaling solution also known as “proto-dankharding.” The proposal aims to improve Ethereum’s scalability beyond the limitations of existing L2 solutions, improve data capacity and reduce transaction costs.

According to Baylina, the Dencun upgrade will improve L2s by addressing challenges such as the cost of data availability. According to him, “the main challenge for ZK rollups right now is the cost of data availability.” He believes that the Dencun upgrade’s EIP-4844 could be a game changer for data availability and gas costs on Polygon zkEVM.

Additionally, Baylina predicted potential cost savings from 10x to 50x with EIP-4844 implementation. He further claimed that the EIP-4844 implementation would deliver a threefold increase in Ethereum’s overall data availability capacity.” He added that the upgrade would collectively help ZK rollups such as Polygon zkEVM, Linea, zkSync and Scroll. Baylina also talked about how Polygon zkEVM prepared for EIP-4844 integration. He said ZK rollups like Polygon zkEVM involved a more complex integration procedure compared to optimistic rollups like Optimism and Arbitrum. Polygon zkEVM must include BLS links in their proofs for the integration, referencing Boneh-Lynn-Shacham, a cryptographic signature scheme used on Ethereum. He added: “A new evidence system is needed, one that will facilitate data compression.”