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Overview

Dogechain serves as a layer-2 solution for the Dogecoin PoW blockchain. As such, the Dogechain PoS is a standalone EVM sidechain that brings utility to Doge and uses the original memecoin as gas.

While the initial PoS chain greatly serves its purpose in this regard, it still needs to rely on third-party services for interoperability and liquidity (bridges, aggregators, etc.) with the broader blockchain ecosystem.

To solve this shortcoming, the Dogechain community voted in favor of developing a chain that uses Polygon CDK and will use rollup technology that will allow better asset composability and interoperability with the broader EVM ecosytem.

What is Dogechain zkEVM ?

Why does Dogechain as an L2 of Ethereum bring to the table?

  • Dogechain PoS serves as a L2 solution to Dogecoin PoW and it has provided abundant usage scenarios for more than 300M DOGE and their holders. However, centralized bridges, albeit vital to bringing liquidity to the chain, have proven to be vulnerable and exert a high risk to users. Dogechain zkEVM will benefit from trustless asset bridging using rollups, from Ethereum and the numerous chains utilizing Polygon CDK. In this regard, it will remove the dependence on third-party bridges, increase security and provide higher interoperability with other blockchains.
  • Dogechain zkEVM will connect to a wider Layer 2 Dapp ecosystem & liquidity with zkEVM technology while remaining to be powered by Dogecoin, where DOGE is used as gas.
  • Sets a platform for a growing ecosystem for EVM-native ZK applications and enhances utility for Dogecoin by providing it with industry-leading EVM-equivalent smart contracts. As the zkEVM inevitably grows, so will the opportunities for Dogechain users of trustlessly access and utilize liquidity from these blockchains.
  • Rolls up transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, enforcing immutability and benefitting from its high security and decentralization.

How Does Dogechain zkEVM Work?​

Co-developed by Dogechain, Polygon, and Caldera, Dogechain zkEVM is a Layer 2 network of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and a zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup scaling solution. Dogechain zkEVM uses a cryptographic primitive called a ZK proof to validate state transitions. As EVM-equivalent, Dogechain zkEVM supports the majority of Ethereum EIPs, pre-compiles, and opcodes. Developers benefit from the seamless deployment of smart contracts, developer tools, and wallets that already work on Ethereum, but in an environment with significantly lower costs.

The Dogechain zkEVM testnet launched with a complete ZK proving system and full transaction data availability. The proving system uses a combination of eSTARK proofs and FRI, that are then compressed using FFLONK SNARKs to create the final ZK proof.

Lower Fee and Higher Accessibility

Leveraging Polygon CDK’s full transaction data availability and Gas customization feature (upcoming), Dogechain zkEVM delivers a fast and cheap building environment for Ethereum L2 and the Dogecoin PoW ecosystem.

The gas customization feature will allow Dogechain zkEVM users to plug in their Dogecoin and use it as gas on the chain, instead of ETH. This perpetuates the Dogechain narrative of bringing utility to Dogecoin and providing a smart contract layer for the Dogecoin PoW blockchain.

Easy-to-Build; More-to-Explore

Empowered by Polygon, Dogechain zkEVM is designed to be EVM-equivalent rather than just compatible.

The difference between EVM-compatibility and EVM-equivalence is that;

  • Solutions that are compatible support most of the existing applications, but sometimes with code changes. Additionally, compatibility may lead to breaking developer tooling.
  • Dogechain zkEVM strives for EVM-equivalence which means most applications, tools, and infrastructure built on Ethereum can immediately port over to Dogechain zkEVM, with limited to no changes needed.

EVM-equivalence is critical to Dogechain zkEVM for several reasons, including the following:

  • Development teams don’t have to make changes to their code, and this eliminates the possibility of introducing new security vulnerabilities.
  • No code changes means no need for additional audits. This saves time and money.
  • Since consolidation of batches and finality of transactions is achieved via smart contracts on Ethereum, Dogechain zkEVM benefits from the security of Ethereum.
  • EVM-equivalence allows Dogechain zkEVM to benefit from the already vibrant and active Ethereum community.
  • It also allows for significant and quick dApp adoption, because applications built on Ethereum are automatically compatible.

Ultimately, Dogechain zkEVM offers developers the same UX as on Ethereum, with significantly improved scalability. The following differences have no impact on the developer’s experience on the zkEVM compared to the EVM:

  • Gas optimization techniques.
  • Interacting with libraries, like Web3.js and Ethers.js.
  • Deploying contracts seamlessly on the zkEVM without any overhead.