re: Official CryptoTalk Thread

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The Aggregation Layer: A New Thesis for Blockchain Design
The aggregation layer (AggLayer) is a forthcoming protocol that will allow unprecedented interoperability across chains, and change blockchain user experience as we know it.

In the future, all aggregated chains will enjoy seamless access to all other connected chains, effectively unifying liquidity across the Polygon ecosystem.

Why does this matter?
Once upon a time, Ethereum devs and builders unveiled a bold, rollup-focused roadmap for scaling Ethereum. The community responded with rollup frameworks (e.g. Polygon CDK), with different degrees of customizability and EVM-compatibility.

This modular approach was important for preserving sovereignty among L2s. But more chains also creates the problem of fragmented liquidity, resulting in capital inefficiency and bad UX where users need to bridge across different chains.

The modularity solution contained the seed of a new problem: How can we preserve customizability & sovereignty without fragmenting liquidity? Put another way: How do we design a frictionless Web3 user experience where we can have as many chains as we need—while also connecting all these chains seamlessly? What’s the most elegant way for users to transact in an environment where there are many different chains?

The answer is aggregation via the AggLayer.

The AggLayer offers two fundamental value propositions:

• The sovereignty and scale of modular architectures
• The unified liquidity and smooth UX of a monolithic system

Any chain connected to the AggLayer—whether that’s Polygon PoS, Polygon zkEVM, an appchain built with Polygon CDK or any external L1/L2 chains using CDK’s proving technology—will be synced into a network of aggregated blockchains. From the end-user's perspective, this ecosystem will feel like a single chain.

Why does the AggLayer matter?
?? End-user: Users enjoy a UX that feels more like the Internet, abstracting away the clunkiness of frequent and cumbersome bridging. With the AggLayer, a user can buy an NFT or swap a token on any connected chain, regardless of which connected chain a user is transacting on.

?? dApp developers: At present, dApp devs need to weigh security, liquidity, and sovereignty when deciding which L2s to commit resources to. Thanks to the AggLayer, liquidity will be unified and an aggregated user-base is within reach.

?? L1/L2 chains: Similar to dApps, all connected chains tap into the unified liquidity of chains plugged into the AggLayer, rather than being siloed—all without sacrificing sovereignty for interoperability.

When will it go live?
AggLayer v1, a unified bridge for all participating chains, will go live on Mainnet in February.

AggLayer v2, supporting asynchronous cross-chain transactions, is expected later in 2024.

This is the aggregated blockchain thesis – a multichain ecosystem that can scale to the size of the Internet.

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