Layer 2s and Scaling • September 21, 2023, 8:20AM EDT
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Polygon Labs proposes facilitating Celo's migration to Ethereum Layer 2 with CDK

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Quick Take

  • Polygon Labs offered the Celo community a proposal to integrate its Chain Development Kit for the transition to Ethereum Layer 2.
  • The proposal, written by Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, was made on Celo’s governance forum.

Polygon Labs has proposed that the Celo blockchain community use Polygon's Chain Development Kit (CDK) to facilitate a planned Layer 2 transition on Ethereum.

The proposal comes after Celo’s core development team, cLabs, unveiled a separate proposed plan to transform its Layer 1 into an Ethereum-based Layer 2 using OP Labs’ software package called OP Stack.

“Polygon Labs proposes that the Celo Ecosystem choose to deploy an L2 using the Polygon CDK (Chain Development Kit), an open-source toolset developers can use to create their own ZK-powered L2 for Ethereum. This toolset allows existing L1s to convert to Ethereum L2s with minimal friction and an emphasis on modularity,” wrote Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal on Celo’s governance forum.

Polygon's CDK is an open-source software development kit designed by Polygon Labs. Layer 2s created with CDK are based on zero-knowledge rollup technology and inherit Ethereum's full security via ZK proofs.

The software kit has previously received interest from several blockchain ventures, including Canto, Astar, Immutable, IDEX, and Palm Network — all of which are collaborating with Polygon Labs for Ethereum Layer 2 migration.

In response to Nailwal’s proposal, Rene Reinsberg, the co-founder of Celo, said that cLabs would discuss the proposal with the broader community before reaching a governance decision.

Polygon pits CDK against OP Stack

Several teams are currently exploring migrations to the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem by leveraging software tools provided by teams like Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, and others.

While several of the aforementioned teams have announced their use of Polygon’s CDK, others have chosen to collaborate with Optimism Labs, the developer of OP Mainnet, employing its software toolkit known as OP Stack. OP Stack has already been implemented by Base and Zora.

OP Stack emphasizes using optimistic rollups — in contrast to CDK's zero-knowledge rollups — in Layer 2 design. 


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