Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has proposed a reconsideration of the early Ethereum scaling solution, Plasma, suggesting it could serve as a significant security upgrade for chains that would otherwise employ validiums.
Buterin argues that the old scaling solution is underrated and should be reevaluated by teams working on zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machines (EVMs).
Introduced in 2017, Plasma redirects data and computation to an off-chain environment, excluding deposits, withdrawals, and Merkle roots.
While optimistic and zero-knowledge (ZK)-rollups have overshadowed Plasma due to lower client-side data storage costs and unmatched security properties, recent advancements in zero-knowledge-proofs, including validity proofs, make Plasma a more viable scaling solution according to Buterin.
Despite its potential, it has seen limited use because adapting it for applications beyond payments had been challenging before the mainstream adoption of zero-knowledge-proofs.
Polygon Labs implemented Plasma in 2019 but has since introduced several other solutions.
Following Buterin's endorsement, the token of OMG Network experienced a 28.6% hike.
OMG Network, formerly OmiseGO, is among the first layer-2 scaling products and aimed to enhance Ethereum blockchain efficiency by using Plasma to bundle transactions off Ethereum and segment them into child chains which process a high volume of transactions independently.