# The Merge ep. 4: Thoughts on Bear Market & The Impacts of The Merge on L2s, EVMs.

By [Kyxoan17](https://paragraph.com/@kyxoan17-2) · 2022-07-17

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Missed the first three episodes? Read [Episode 1](https://bit.ly/3OopR1A) & [Episode 2 + 3](https://mirror.xyz/dashboard/edit/scuSB42Nf5YxYwqlQJj6U8Tl-IXvUG0cMUP1Br3yUy4) summary to better understanding.

This is a summary of the episode 4 in the 8-week educational series hosted by [SSV Network](https://twitter.com/ssv_network) on The Ethereum’s most exciting incoming event: The Merge !

This article will discuss:

a) Polygon’s approach under the current conditions of the market

b) Impacts of The Merge on L2s, EVMs

c) Polygon and its Ethereum scaling solutions

**_A. Polygon’s approach under the current conditions of the market_**

![Polygon's approach to cope with bear market](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/4498fbd572cd147cedf4d2814e2e1bbf3fb480e8915e1bcc9798d15e918f9fc6.png)

Polygon's approach to cope with bear market

Similar to Stani's perspective on bear markets in part 2, Sandeep stated that the signal-to-noise ratio decreases during bear markets. He continued by saying that Polygon has raised $450M during this downturn and that its visibility is increasing significantly. Additionally, they intend to support numerous products and will make the Zero-Knowledge EVM announcement at EthCC Paris.

In order to further support his argument, Sandeep argues that while things are more fundamentally based during a bear market—people are more concerned with construction, utility, etc.—during a bull market, the opposite is true. More people are concerned about price hikes and the level of noise in the web 3 market.

Sandeep Nailwal believes that this is an ideal time to create on platforms like web3, ethereum, polygon, and others. He tells the public that Polygon is currently working on several product lines and planning for the next 4–5 years.

Sandeep Nailwal wants to continue the Ethereum's ecosystem expansion. Users are to be informed about the ecosystem's operation, its enormous size and scope, as well as the benefits and importance of developing on ethereum and the ecosystem, according to Polygon's strategy. As of now, Polygon has been trying to attract 1 billion users to Web3.

Smart contacts and EVM will continue to operate as usual because the Merge won't actually alter anything in L2s. Sandeep claims that Polygon isn't actually getting ready for the upcoming integration. The check point systems will still include retrials in the unlikely event of "down-time." Due to its involvement in the ethereum ecosystem, Polygon will experience downtime with its ethereum validators. Retry attempts will be distributed across all validators in a long-term format to fix this.

**_B. Impacts of The Merge on L2s, EVMs_**

![Impacts of the Merge on L2s & EVMs](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/17be3919024720d236e994cdf26b7cf1e713c0713bcb0e211ce5ada0ac39af0b.png)

Impacts of the Merge on L2s & EVMs

In essence, Layer-2s independently process transactions to process more transactions per second with lower gas fees; the transactions are later recorded in the Ethereum blockchain. Therefore, if ethereum scales in the future, L2s will do so as well (sharding). Tens of thousands more L2s can be created thanks to eth 2.0's improved community layer settlement, which also improves the ETH ecosystem. And things will only get more interesting once ETH turns green.

Ethereum will serve as a security and settlement layer while the majority of user activities take place on L2s. The Merge will fortify the web3 ecosystem even more and shift it toward being more environmentally friendly.

**_C. Polygon and its Ethereum scaling solutions_**

![Polygon's scaling solutions](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/46f0f32c218c4b7f27656e21885512c07c13223915818f023fea1a00e06e988a.png)

Polygon's scaling solutions

Layer 2 scaling is accomplished by Polygon using a decentralized network of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) validators and off-chain computation on sidechains. One of the most widely used platforms for scaling solutions today is still Polygon.

Polygon is working on plenty of projects at the same time. This allows Polygon to have modularity while also improving the overall efficiency.

Polygon had a Green PoS chain of its own even before the Merge. When considered separately, the Proof of Stake consensus algorithm used by Polygon results in a very small carbon footprint. In the past, networks like Polygon PoS used their low emissions to set themselves apart from energy-hungry platforms like Ethereum and position themselves as a greener option.

Polygon PoS is also introduce their Ethereum scaling solutions:

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/867e645943e78112e047e31441338304f857535d4d176ad90721e4f1511ae925.png)

*   zkEVM: The Hermez team is behind zkEVM. It will be introduced at EthCC Paris and is a Zero-Knowledge roll-up compatible with EVM.
    
*   Polygonal Avail: To save money compared to putting the data on Ethereum, Polygon Avail will be used for ordering and availability of the data.
    
*   Polygon Supernets: Application-specific chains called polygon supernets will only be protected by MATIC.
    
*   Polygon Edge: A modular and extensible framework for building private or public Ethereum-competible blockchain networks.
    
*   Polygon Nightfall: Polygon is creating Polygon Nightfall. It is an L2 rollup solution with a privacy-focused to enable privacy for businesses looking to use Ethereum.
    
*   Polygon Miden: a general-purpose Zero-Knowledge rollup based on STARK that supports any kind of smart contract. According to Sandeep, the development of Miden will take about three to five years.
    
*   Polygon Zero: a rollup with zero knowledge and provides greater throughput at lower costs. Sandeep estimates that it will take 18 to 24 months for Polygon Zero to fully function.
    
*   Polygon ID: a web3 user-owned identity system that is native to the blockchain. It provides scalable on-chain verification and total user privacy.
    

According to Sandeep, Polygon is the main defense L2 using Ethereum security. Enterprises always prioritize security and privacy on the Ethereum ecosystem. These Ethereum advantages aid them in persuading and closing these deals, making them the preferred option for enterprises.

**_Consequently, you might want to know what is_** [**_SSV Network_**](https://twitter.com/ssv_network) **_?_**

SSV, or Secret Shared Validators, is an open source network protocol that allows developers to maximize ETH staking rewards while minimizing risk. This is made possible by scalable [distributed validator technology](https://ssv.network/tech/).

It is the first secure and reliable method of dividing an ETH validator key between anonymous nodes or operators. As an open-source protocol, SSV Network enables the community development, smooth operation of Ethereum nodes and fully decentralization.

![The Merge series by SSV Network](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/535f7e3bcbdc7a3cf68d0c46a61eadeb60ceb8d9de64d559f188976dffdbbf84.png)

The Merge series by SSV Network

Join the 8-week [Twitter Space](https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1YqJDqqQZvvxV) series to learn more about the on-in-a-lifetime upcoming event on Ethereum: The Merge!

**_Reference_**

[https://ssv.network/tech/](https://ssv.network/tech/)

[https://coinnounce.com/will-the-merge-impact-other-ether-layer-2-chains/](https://coinnounce.com/will-the-merge-impact-other-ether-layer-2-chains/)

[https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/merge/](https://ethereum.org/en/upgrades/merge/)

[https://blog.polygon.technology/](https://blog.polygon.technology/)

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*Originally published on [Kyxoan17](https://paragraph.com/@kyxoan17-2/the-merge-ep-4-thoughts-on-bear-market-the-impacts-of-the-merge-on-l2s-evms)*
