A new protocol from Ethereum-scaling solutions developer Polygon Labs promises to unite what it calls the “divided blockchain landscape” into a web of networks that “feels like a single chain.”

In a Jan. 24 blog post , Polygon said its AggLayer solution, set to launch next month, aims to aggregate zero-knowledge ( ZK ) proofs from multiple blockchains and allow developers to connect layer 1 and 2 blockchains to merge them into a single network.

For end users, Polygon Labs claims the user experience will be “like the internet,” and users won’t have to undertake “cumbersome and frequent bridging” to use other chains.

A visual diagram of the AggLayer protocol. Source: Polygon Labs

Polygon Labs’ AggLayer use case example involved a user on Ethereum L2 chain X1 holding Dai ( DAI ) and buying a nonfungible token (NFT) on Polygon’s zero knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) without first bridging DAI to the zkEVM.

“From the end-user perspective, this will feel like using a single chain,” it wrote. “Users can interact with [decentralized applications] without needing to know that they are accessing another chain.”

Polygon Labs’ reason for making AggLayer stems from its belief that blockchains should be a “unified, highly scalable network” similar to the internet but are currently “siloed and lacking interoperability” with users facing poor user experience and scaling limitations.

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It claimed AggLayer will improve the now-widely in-use monolithic and modular blockchain architectures.

Monolithic blockchains — like Bitcoin — have functions such as transactions, settlements and data availability on a single layer. Modular chains — like post-Merge Ethereum — distribute these functions across layers aiming to enhance efficiency.

“​​Aggregation synthesizes the benefits of both integrated (monolithic) and modular architectures using ZK technology,” Polygon Labs wrote.

The first version is slated for launch in February, with a second version pinned for later in the year, which Polygon Labs said will support asynchronous cross-chain transactions.

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