Polygon Slams zkSync for Copying Code: Matter Labs Hits Back

Last Updated: August 7, 2023

• Polygon has accused zkSync’s Matter Labs of plagiarizing their codebase.
• Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski has refuted these claims and has received flak for his approach.
• The debate raises questions about the open source ethos, and both parties have received criticism for their approach.

Plagiarism Dispute Between Polygon and Matter Labs

Polygon Zero, the zero knowledge arm of Polygon, has accused zkSync developers Matter Labs of copying their code in a blog post on Thursday, August 3. Specifically, Polygon Zero alleged that zkSync Era’s latest zero knowledge prover dubbed Boojum contained “a substantial amount” of code lifted from Polygon’s Plonky 2 Library, alleging both solutions to be “nearly identical.” Although open source code can be used and adapted by external developers, the Polygon team faulted Matter Labs for failing to give proper attribution.

Matter Labs Responds

Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski responded to these allegations by refuting them. In July he shared benchmark results claiming that Boojum was far superior to Plonky 2 in speed; however, the Polygon team contested this claim by suggesting that it should not be possible due to the allegedly similar codebase and also claimed that the test was rigged to favor Boojum.

Impact on Open Source Ethos

The debate between both parties has raised questions about the open source ethos as crypto largely runs on it—when projects don’t follow it, it hurts the ecosystem as a whole. Both sides have received flak for their respective approaches as some suggest that one or even both sides are not upholding ethical standards with regards to open source development practices.

Competition Heats Up

The competition between Ethereum scaling solutions is heating up amid this rising tension between two developers who are competing for optimal Ethereum scaling solutions. This plagiarism dispute is an example of how fierce this competition can become when companies strive for innovation in order to remain competitive in this space and gain market share over each other’s products or services.

Conclusion

This plagiarism dispute between two key competitors in Ethereum scaling solutions highlights how intense competition can become amongst rival firms vying for market dominance within a certain sector or industry space—and how easily tensions can flare up when company cultures clash over differing approaches or ideologies regarding business practices such as open-source development principles and standards.

Author