Polygon Stops Work on ‘Edge,’ Used to Build Dogechain, as Focus Turns to ZK

Polygon
Labs,
the
primary
developer
behind
the
Polygon
blockchain
ecosystem,
said
it
has
discontinued
contributions
to
Polygon
Edge,
the
open-source
software
for
building
Ethereum-compatible
networks
that
was
used
as
the
template
for

Dogechain
–
created
purportedly
to
bring
DeFi
to
the
Dogecoin
community.

In
a

blog
post,
the
developer
said
that
its
support
for
chain
development
in
the
Polygon
ecosystem
has
shifted
toward
the
new
Polygon
CDK,
which
is
a
framework
for
building
layer-2
blockchains
powered
by

zero-knowledge
cryptography.
Also
known
as
“ZK,”
the
technology
has
become
a
core
feature
of
many
new
projects
and
upgrades
emanating
from
the
crypto
industry.

Top
executives
at
Polygon
Labs
have
been
signaling
that
shift
toward
ZK
since

early
this
year.
A
new
Ethereum-compatible,
zero-knowledge-powered
network
called
Polygon
zkEVM

launched
in
March,
and
subsequently
the
team
has
been
recruiting
blockchain
builders
to
use
“Polygon
CDK,”
a
blueprint
for
new
layer-2
networks
that
can
be
modeled
after
the
original
technology.

“The
landscape
in
which
Edge
was
developed
has
changed
and
Polygon
Labs
now
supports
a
solution
that
empowers
developers
to
build
within
a
(future)
unified
ecosystem
of
ZK-powered
L2s,”
the
blog
post
reads.

Several
projects
including
Immutable,
Astar,
Canto,
Gnosis
Pay
and
Manta
Network
already
have
committed
to
using
Polygon
CDK.
The
team
is
actively
competing
to
land
the

Celo
blockchain’s
migration
to
a
layer
2
as
well
as,
according
to
people
familiar
with
the
matter,
a
new
layer-2
network
for
the
crypto
exchange

Kraken.

Dogechain
was
started
last
year
by
developers
claiming
an
affinity
with
the
Dogecoin
community
(although
there
is
no
official
tie
between
Dogecoin
and
its
DOGE
meme
coin,
and
Dogechain),
and
they

chose
Polygon
Edge
as
the
open-source
software
template
for
the
project.

It
was
pitched
as
a
way
of
adding
support
for
Ethereum-style
smart
contracts,
which
in
turn
could
facilitate
new
DeFi
protocols
as
well
as
NFTs;
the
original
Dogecoin
blockchain
lacked
smart-contract
support,
since
it
was
a
fork
of
Litecoin,
which
in
turn
was
an
early
clone
of
Bitcoin,
the
original
blockchain
launched
in
2009
–
several
years
before
Ethereum
came
along,
ushering
in
the
new
era
of
smart
contracts.

Dogecoin’s
DOGE
tokens
could
be
used
to
pay
for
transactions
on
Dogechain,
known
as
“gas
fees.”

The
Dogechain
whitepaper,

published
in
June
2022,
mentions
Polygon
Edge
22
times.

“Polygon
Edge
employs
a
modular
and
extensible
framework
for
creating
EVM-compatible
blockchain
networks,
sidechains,
and
global
scaling
solutions,”
the
white
paper
reads.
“After
all,
Polygon
Edge
is
primarily
used
to
launch
new
blockchain
networks
that
are
fully
compatible
with
Ethereum
smart
contracts
and
transactions.”

Notably,
though,
the

Dogechain
effort
did
not
appear
to
have
the
endorsement
of
top
leaders
of
the
Dogecoin
community.
At
the
time
of
Dogechain’s
launch,

Jens
Wiechers,
executive
board
member
of
the
Dogecoin
Foundation,
tweeted
that
the
Foundation
had
no
affiliation
with
the
Dogechain
project.
The
founders
of
Dogecoin
do
not
have
any
ties
to
Dogechain
either.

It’s
not
clear
if
or
how
Dogechain’s
operations
or
roadmap
might
change
as
a
result
of
Polygon’s
decision.
A
request
for
comment
sent
through
the
Dogechain
website
wasn’t
immediately
returned,
and
there
was
no
immediate
reply
to
a
query
posted
to
the
project’s
official
Discord
channel.
.

Friday’s
blog
post
from
Polygon
Labs
did
say:
“While
a
variety
of
projects
began
building
with
Polygon
Edge,
many
will
choose
to
migrate
to
Polygon
CDK,
with
the
option
to,
eventually,
plug
into
the
unified
CDK
ecosystem.”