Jordi Baylina, one of the co-founders of Polygon, has launched a new project called Zisk to continue the development of zkEVM technology, following Polygon’s decision to shut down its zero-knowledge chain. With this move, Baylina and his core team have become fully independent, taking their code and vision with them into a new chapter focused on performance and real-world applications.
The announcement came on June 18 via X (formerly Twitter), where Baylina revealed that the zkEVM development team has officially spun out from Polygon to form Zisk. The new venture will focus on building a low-latency, open-source zero-knowledge virtual machine (zkVM) that can support faster and more scalable blockchain applications.
Zisk is now operated by SilentSig GmbH, a Swiss company fully owned by Baylina. The team had reportedly been working on this transition since May 2024 and finalized the spinout on June 13. All intellectual property and code developed under Polygon’s zkEVM project have been transferred to this new entity.
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This change follows a leadership shakeup at Polygon, where fellow co-founder Sandeep Nailwal recently took over the Polygon Foundation. Under his leadership, Polygon shifted its focus away from zkEVM development and toward its PoS chain and the AggLayer interoperability protocol. The zero-knowledge chain, which reportedly cost over \$1 million a year to maintain, was no longer part of the roadmap.
Rather than try to reverse course, Baylina and his team chose to build something new. With Zisk, they’re aiming to stay true to the original vision of zkEVM but improve on its performance and usability. While most current zkVMs focus heavily on Ethereum compatibility, Zisk is designed for low-latency proof generation, which is especially important for use cases like decentralized trading and Web3 gaming.
According to early testing, Zisk’s technology could reduce verification times by 40–60% compared to older systems—though independent audits will be needed to confirm these numbers. What’s more, Baylina has promised that Zisk will continue the open-source tradition of zkEVM by keeping the codebase permissionless and community-friendly.
With Zisk now leading the charge, this spinout could mark a fresh start for zero-knowledge blockchain technology, especially as demand grows for faster, more scalable solutions that don’t sacrifice decentralization.
