Polygon Begins Foray Into ZK With $250M Hermez Network Merger

Polygon has announced a merger with Hermez Network, a prominent zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography-based scaling project.

According to a Polygon blog post, the two companies will become Polygon Hermez in “the first full-blown merger of two blockchain networks.”

The company also described the move as their “first big foray into the exciting world of ZK.”

Polygon relayed the key points of their merger with Hermez in a 14-part Twitter thread, shared on August 13.

“Six months ago, when we announced Polygon, there was a pressing need to scale Ethereum and our PoS chain turned out to be the best immediate solution/relief,” they began. “Now both Polygon and Ethereum are in a better place, so we believe it is the right time to focus more on innovation.

“We have been actively experimenting with all major scaling technologies since 2017. Based on what we have learned, we believe that ZK crypto is our best bet to build the solutions we all want and deserve.”

Polygon confirmed that it would commit 250 million of its native token (MATIC) to the merger. The company stated this equated to roughly $250 million at the time they reached the agreement. At time of press, MATIC’s price was $1.43, shortly following a sharp drop from $1.50 to $1.42 in the space of ten minutes in the morning of August 14.

In addition, Polygon said they would commit another $1 billion from their treasury to fund their ZK effort. More specifically, “acquiring world-class ZK projects and teams; building ZK based solutions; hiring premium talent; adoption of ZK solutions…” as well as research funding.

Expansion for Polygon

The merger with Hermez Network is not the only expansion to Polygon’s ecosystem in recent weeks. It comes less than a month after reports revealed Polygon’s new non-fungible token (NFT) and gaming division, Polygon Studios. Reports indicated that the new division aims to bring Web 2 and Web 3 gaming together. Polygon already boasted over 100,000 users on its Web 3 games. 

On August 13, it was reported that the NFT platform Rario had launched. The first project to launch with the support of Polygon Studios. Rario, a cricket-focused NFT platform, has already signed deals with various cricket leagues and players across the world, according to reports.