Polygon Launches Scalable Data Availability Infrastructure called Avail

Polygon (Matic) has launched a general-purpose, scalable data availability infrastructure known as “Avail.” According to the press release, Avail will function as a data-available tool for execution layers like sidechains, standalone networks, and layer-two protocols.

One of the significant obstacles to effective blockchain scaling is the data availability problem. Malicious actors often distribute blocks to the network with incomplete data, and other participants are not notified. To tackle this problem, Avail uses erasure coding and polynomial commitment to eliminate data encoding fraud by creating a two-dimensional data availability layer. Rather than creating their data availability protocols, execution layers can offload the role to the Avail layer.

For standalone chains, Avail will allow these networks to rely on the latter’s validator security protocols. Thus, these chains will solve the data availability problem without the need for a validator set. Scaling solutions like Validium can also increase their scalability throughput by deploying Avail to the offline data availability feature for layer-two protocols.

Anurag Arjun, the Polygon co-founder, stated that “Avail is a key component of a new paradigm in which blockchains will work in the future. We believe off-chain scaling solutions and standalone chains will require a robust scalable data availability solution and we are excited to be working on this problem.”

Polygon’s popularity has been growing tremendously in the crypto space, with 1.4 million unique users. DeFi Protocols like Aave and SushiSwap have also established a presence on Polygon. Recently, Cross-chain liquidity protocol Ren has created a bridge enabling users and projects to port their Ren-based wrapped tokens to the Polygon ecosystem.

The Polygon team has also developed a software kit offering developers to create Ethereum-compatible standalone chains and layer-two protocols. Previously, Billionaire Mark Cuban admitted being a Polygon user, using the blockchain project daily. The project has seen rapid growth in 2021, hitting an all-time high of $2.70 in May. While the price has corrected dramatically, MATIC is still up 5,978% in 2021.

Disclaimer: The author’s views and opinions are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.