• Polygon’s Layer 2 solutions—Plasma, AggLayer, and Miden—enhance Ethereum’s scalability by reducing gas fees, increasing transaction speed, and maintaining security.
• Plasma provides high-throughput transactions but has limitations like seven-day withdrawal delays, making it ideal for payments and gaming.
• AggLayer enables interoperability between Layer 2 chains without requiring traditional bridges, with its testnet expected in 2024.
• Miden leverages zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and a ZK-VM to support scalable, privacy-preserving smart contracts compatible with Ethereum tooling.

Polygon is a major contributor to Ethereum scalability solutions and presents multiple Layer 2 options that will help manage network congestion while increasing transaction speeds and reducing costs.

This article will assess the Layer 2 scaling technologies of Polygon—Plasma, AggLayer, and Miden—in terms of architecture, performance, security tradeoffs, real-world use cases, and how developers can integrate them with Tatum’s API.

What Is Polygon Layer 2?

Layer 2 (or for the sake of the article, L2) solutions are built on top of Ethereum to improve scalability while maintaining the security of the mainnet. Instead of executing every transaction directly on Ethereum, L2 solutions batch or process transactions off-chain and periodically commit them back to Ethereum.

Contrary to popular belief, not every secondary layer of a well-known blockchain has the same goal, such as reducing fees. Polygon’s L2 solutions aim to:

• Reduce gas fees by processing transactions efficiently.
• Improve throughput by handling thousands of transactions per second (TPS).
• Maintain security by inheriting Ethereum’s decentralization and consensus model.

Polygon has developed multiple secondary layers, each with different architectures and trade-offs. Let’s look at their unique approaches in key areas.

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How Layer 2 Bridges Work on Polygon

Since Layer 2 solutions operate off-chain, users need a bridge to move assets between Ethereum and Polygon. We have already covered how bridges are the most vulnerable parts of many ecosystems; hence, this topic is very important.

The bridge mechanism depends on the type of L2 used:

• Plasma bridges use fraud proofs to ensure security.
• ZK-rollups (like Miden) rely on zero-knowledge proofs.
• AggLayer connects multiple chains, potentially eliminating the need for bridges.

Previous bridge security incidents:

• Ronin Bridge hack ($620M lost) – 2022
• Wormhole exploit ($325M lost) – 2022

Notable limitations between particular L2s and the Polygon main chain:

• Plasma exits take over seven days due to fraud-proof verification.
• Miden bridges rely on complex ZK verification, which increases costs associated with computation.
• AggLayer is designed to remove the need for bridges, but it is still under development.

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Plasma Guide

How does Plasma work? It is an off-chain scaling solution that creates “child” chains running parallel to Ethereum. Ensuring data integrity while keeping most transactions off-chain, these chains periodically submit checkpoints to Ethereum.

Technical Architecture

Plasma relies on:

• To store transaction history efficiently, Merkle trees are utilized.
• Fraud proofs to verify transactions without executing them on Ethereum.
• Exit mechanisms that allow users to withdraw funds back to the main chain if needed.

Performance Benchmarks

• Estimated TPS: ~1,000 TPS (limited by said fraud-proof verification).
• Gas Fee Reduction: ~10–50x lower than Ethereum.

Plasma is best for high-volume, low-complexity applications, such as:

• Payment solutions—moving value from one place to another.
• Transactions within a gaming ecosystem.
• NFT marketplaces with simple transfers, although the NFT market on Polygon is still small.

However, its seven-day withdrawal period due to fraud-proof mechanisms makes it less ideal for real-time applications like DeFi.

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AggLayer Review

It supports different Layer 2 chains in communication without traditional bridges, which, as we discussed, aren’t completely secure.

Unlike previous solutions that operate in silos (each functioning independently with limited interoperability), AggLayer connects rollups and sidechains into a unified ecosystem.

Current Development Status & Expected Launch

AggLayer has been under development for quite some time, introducing initial testnet deployments in 2024, with a mainnet launch anticipated in the first half of 2025, although that could very well change. The boss behind Polygon, Polygon Labs, has not yet provided official TPS benchmarks, but AggLayer is designed to enhance cross-chain liquidity and execution speeds significantly.

AggLayer will introduce shared liquidity and composability between L2s. This is achieved by:

• Unified settlement layers to verify transactions across multiple chains.
• Recursive proof aggregation to improve efficiency.
• Atomic transaction execution across different L2 chains.

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Real-World Use Cases for AggLayer:

• Composable DeFi protocols that can operate across multiple layers without fragmentation.
• NFT marketplaces that work across chains, letting people buy and sell NFTs without using a different bridge.

Miden: The ZK-Rollup Solution for Developers

Miden has a special kind of ZK virtual machine (ZK-VM), which is not exactly the same as the rollups used by other chains like Plasma.

Miden’s ZK-VM Explained

Unlike standard ZK-rollups, Miden features a ZK virtual machine (ZK-VM). Here’s what makes it different:

• ZK-VM: Developers can use this to make and execute smart contracts that aren’t limited to one thing. Since normal ZK-rollups can only do specific calculations, ZK-VMs are better because they can do more types of computations.
• Standard ZK-Rollups: Designed to improve transaction handling and proof-checking for better scalability. Standard ZK-rollups are stuck with specific circuit logic, which stops them from doing all sorts of computations like ZK-VMs can.

On Miden, developers can execute fully programmable smart contracts with privacy and scalability.

Ethereum Tooling Compatibility

Miden is designed to assist with Ethereum development tools, like Hardhat, Foundry and Remix, making it easy for developers to switch to Miden without having to overhaul their development process.

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Performance Benchmarks

• Gas Fee Reduction: Up to 100x compared to Ethereum mainnet.
• Improved finality: Faster transaction settlement with cryptographic security.

Real-World Use Cases

• These DeFi apps, which focus on privacy, incorporate ZK technology to make them more secure.
• ZK-based identity verification systems for compliance-friendly Web3 applications.

eth_sendRawTransaction Method

As you know, the eth_sendRawTransaction method is used to broadcast a signed transaction to the Ethereum network. This is a fundamental operation for all Ethereum-compatible solutions:

const response = await fetch('https://api.tatum.io/v3/blockchain/transaction', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'x-api-key': 'YOUR_TATUM_API_KEY',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    chain: 'POLYGON',
    txData: '0x0000.......'
  })
})

const result = await response.json()
console.log(result)

If you need more help with code, you can look at these places:

• Polygon Developer Documentation
• Miden GitHub Repository
• AggLayer Whitepaper (Upcoming)

The Future of Miden, Plasma, and AggLayer

Polygon’s Layer 2 future kinda rides on whether AggLayer actually delivers. It’s supposed to fix the whole "too many chains, too little cohesion" problem by making everything feel like one unified experience. If it works, that could finally pull users back and make Polygon relevant again in a meaningful way.

And while we're at it—keep an eye on Miden. It’s not exactly dev-friendly, but with gas fees that low, it might be where serious dApps end up scaling.

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