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Introduction to the Immutable zkEVM Chain

This page focuses on some intentional architectural decisions we made for Immutable zkEVM.

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Introduction to the Immutable zkEVM ChainIntroduction to the Immutable zkEVM Chain

Immutable zkEVM is an Ethereum zk-rollup (L2) built as a fork of Geth, Ethereum's most adopted and mature execution client. Immutable zkEVM is a Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus chain with arbitrary message checkpoints for cross-chain communication on Ethereum; over time, we will introduce a native bridge secured by zero-knowledge proofs with Polygon Zero.

Gas and congestion​

Immutable zkEVM has adopted EIP-1559 as the congestion mechanism to prevent spam and provide a deterministic gas pricing algorithm. Gas is expected to cost multiple orders of magnitude less than Ethereum. $IMX is used as the native gas token on Immutable zkEVM.

Staking​

Immutable zkEVM will eventually overlay Proof of Stake (PoS) and transition into a PoS-based BFT consensus chain and need a staking token for validator selection and the chain's economic security (and eventually governance). We have adopted a dual staking strategy with $IMX and $MATIC as the staking tokens. More info is coming soon!

Anchoring to Ethereum​

There are 3 main reasons why we're anchoring to Ethereum:

  1. Security
    • Ethereum's strong security and decentralization model is a key consideration, providing us with the most secure Settlement and Data Availability (DA) layer shared across most of the highest-valued rollups. See L2 Beats dashboard.
  2. Liquidity
    • Ethereum has significant capital and liquidity that will be used to fuel applications built on Immutable zkEVM.
  3. Bridging
    • As Immutable is a multi-chain operator, we must have fast but secure and trustless bridging between each Immutable-supported chain that shares the same Data Availability layer.

Decentralization​

Immutable zkEVM will initially launch with only Immutable as the sole operator and validator. This is a critical first step in our strategy to allow the ecosystem to start forming while being able to respond quickly to ensure the safety and integrity of our chain. The long-term goal remains to gradually open up the chain.