Polygon’s journey with zero-knowledge tech is taking a new direction. Jordi Baylina, co-founder of Polygon and lead on its zkEVM project, has announced a spin-off initiative called ZisK.
The move comes just as Polygon prepares to discontinue support for its underutilized zkEVM chain and reallocate resources toward its PoS network and the growing Agglayer ecosystem.
The ZisK project will now operate independently, marking a notable shift in the platform’s zero-knowledge roadmap.
ZisK to focus on low-latency zkVM proving
According to Baylina, ZisK will double down on developing low-latency, open-source zkVM proving technology, tools that help verify transactions on blockchain networks without exposing sensitive data.
This type of cryptographic computation plays a key role in scaling solutions and privacy-enhancing protocols. The project had been incubated inside Polygon Labs since May 2024, but officially spun out as its own entity on June 13.
The intellectual property and development team behind Polygon zkEVM have been transferred to SilentSig Switzerland GmbH, a company fully owned by Baylina.
Though he’s stepping away from day-to-day operations within Polygon’s zkEVM efforts, Baylina remains involved with the larger Polygon ecosystem as a co-founder and advisor.
A strategic exit amid network restructuring
The spin-off aligns with broader changes underway at Polygon. Last week, fellow co-founder Sandeep Nailwal assumed the role of CEO of the Polygon Foundation and revealed plans to deprecate the zkEVM chain.
Resources are now being redirected to the Polygon PoS chain and Agglayer, a protocol aimed at unifying liquidity across various chains.
While some see this as a smart pivot, others have been more critical. Blockchain researcher Lorenz Lehmann recently pointed out that Polygon originally acquired Hermez (which became zkEVM) for $250 million in 2021, only to wind down support after limited adoption and growing operational costs.
He claimed the network was incurring over $1 million in yearly losses.Still, with ZisK now carrying the zkEVM torch independently, there’s potential for renewed momentum in zero-knowledge applications, just on a different path than before.
