Polygon, an Ethereum scaling project, is exploring ways to bring “zero knowledge” or ZK technology – seen by many experts as a major advancement in cryptography’s use in blockchains – to its main chain.

The effort is in addition to Polygon’s ongoing and previously disclosed plans to release a “ZK rollup” – a type of layer 2 scaling system that aims to increase the speed of blockchain transactions and reduce their cost.

Mihailo Bjelic, Polygon’s co-founder, disclosed the exploratory work in an interview with CoinDesk, underscoring just how crucial ZK technology has become for the project's development roadmap. He said that some ZK-based enhancements could eventually be made to Polygon’s main proof-of-stake (POS) chain – a sidechain off of Ethereum – as a way of improving transaction security.

By exploring how ZK technology can be integrated into Polygon’s mainchain, the blockchain is betting big that this scaling technique could drive its ecosystem.