The Elderberry update integrates several improvements focused on optimizing the Polygon zkEVM ROM, to increase network capabilities and improve its efficiency.
Polygon continues to emerge as one of the most attractive second-layer scaling protocols in the Ethereum ecosystem. Its fast transactions and low commission fees have made it the fifth largest protocol in the blockchain space today, in terms of TVL (Total Locked Value).
However, despite the importance it has achieved, its developers have not lost the ability to innovate, which is why they recently announced a new update that will help the network become more scalable and efficient.
Called Elderberry, the new update zkEVM, the solution designed by Polygon Labs to combine the innovation of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) and the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), will be deployed on the Polygon beta mainnet to make ETH transactions faster and cheaper for end-users.
Elderberry will be deployed on the Polygon zkEVM mainnet beta on March 7. In the statement shared via their official blog, the network developers announced that a 10-day lockup time has been put in place, following their governance model, for the implementation of this new update.
Optimizing ROM with Elderberry
The new update just announced by Polygon Labs brings with it important improvements to optimize the ROM (Runtime Object Model), which interprets the execution logic of all transactions and all opcodes for Polygon zkEVM, Polygon Labs explained.
These optimizations will help reduce network errors and implement some additional fixes in Polygon's previous update, Etrog, which was released last month.
Overall, Elderberry will help improve the capabilities of Polygon zkEVM, to bring more efficiency and scalability to the network. However, in relation to commission rates, it seems that Elderberry will not have any significant impact.
The L2 developers responded with “4844” to a question from a user on X (formerly Twitter) questioning Elderberry’s ability to reduce transaction gas fees. Polygon’s response hints that users will have to wait for the implementation of the Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-4844, also known as proto-danksharding, to see a significant reduction in network fee rates.
Polygon, 5th DeFi ecosystem
Polygon is currently the fifth largest ecosystem in the DeFi space, in terms of TVL. According to data from DeFi platform Llama, Polygon holds over $1.040 billion locked in its smart contracts. Protocols such as Aave, Quickswap, Uniswap, Compound, and Tangible lead the Polygon decentralized ecosystem.
Although data from DeFi Llama shows that Polygon’s TVL, as well as that of other Ethereum L2 chains, has declined considerably over the past year, the ecosystem as a whole is showing resilience. Compared to the TVL it held at the beginning of 2023, the Polygon network has lost close to $100 million. Still, it remains one of the leading networks in decentralized finance and one of the main scalability solutions for Ethereum. This exposes the sustained interest that users and investors in the crypto ecosystem have for scalable and cost-effective chains.
Blockchain developers like Polygon Labs have been building new solutions to serve the growing global cryptocurrency user base efficiently. Polygon zkEVM is one such solution, which leverages zero-knowledge (ZK) technology to increase Ethereum’s scalability, reduce transaction costs, and offer a better user experience.
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