Polygon Labs Discontinues Contributions to Edge, Focuses on CDK Expansion

TL;DR

• Polygon Labs has discontinued contributions to its Edge framework.

• The team will focus on expanding its CDK toolkit which continues to gain adoption by several projects.

Polygon Labs Stops Contributions to Edge

Polygon Labs has revealed that it will halt accepting contributions to its Edge framework (also called Supernets). Instead, the focus will now be on expanding its Chain Development Kit (CDK).

Polygon Edge was initially launched as an open-source tool under the Apache License 2.0. The tool allowed developers to create custom blockchain networks compatible with Ethereum. 

However, the team said there has been a shift in their development priorities over the past couple of months. 

For this reason, Polygon Labs will be focusing on CDK, its toolkit designed for the development of various Layer 2 ZK-Rollups. Chains deployed using the CDK are expected to be interoperable within a wide network.

Polygon’s CDK is gaining adoption from projects within the crypto ecosystem. So far, projects such as Immutable, OKX, Astar, Canto, Palm Network, Aavegotchi, IDEX, Nubank, and Manta Network have plans to utilize Polygon CDK to develop their L2 networks. 

While speaking with The Block, the Polygon Labs said,

“Polygon CDK-deployed chains will be interoperable within a broader web of ZK-powered L2s in the CDK ecosystem, creating a single unified pool of liquidity. These are features that Edge does not support natively and require migration with significant modifications.”

Polygon’s CDK currently leverages two primary scaling methods: a sidechain called Polygon PoS and a zero-knowledge rollup network, zkEVM. 

Polygon Labs is already working on launching Polygon 2.0, a major upgrade that would see POL replace MATIC as the native coin of the Polygon ecosystem. Furthermore, the upgrade intends to integrate Layer 2 chains based on ZK rollups and facilitate cross-chain communication.