Just caught something interesting unfolding in the zkEVM space. Jordi Baylina, who co-founded Polygon, just spun out his core development team into a new independent project called Zisk. This happened after Polygon Foundation made the call to deprioritize zkEVM, which had been burning over a million dollars annually anyway.

The timing is telling. Baylina and his team had been quietly incubating this within Polygon since May 2024, but once the new leadership direction became clear in early June, they moved fast. All the IP and codebase got transferred to SilentSig GmbH, a Swiss entity fully owned by Baylina. Now it's completely independent.

Here's what makes this noteworthy: while most zkEVM projects chase EVM compatibility, Jordi Baylina's new venture is taking a different angle. Zisk is targeting low-latency proofs as the core focus, which actually matters way more for real-world applications like DEXs and gaming. Early benchmarks are showing potential 40-60% reduction in verification times compared to existing solutions, though obviously those need independent verification.

The bigger picture is that Polygon Foundation decided to double down on PoS and their AggLayer interoperability play instead. Some researchers noted Polygon had quietly walked away from zkEVM despite nine figures invested. But for Baylina, this is actually an opportunity to strip away the legacy overhead and focus on what zkEVM should have been from the start.

Plus they're keeping the codebase open-source and permissionless, which is solid for the ecosystem. Interesting to watch how this independent push plays out compared to the corporate version. This kind of founder-led spinout could reshape how people think about zero-knowledge tech development.