![Matter Labs CEO Counters Polygon’s Code Attribution Claims](https://layer2daily.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Untitled-design-2021-12-17T185112.webp)
![Matter Labs CEO Counters Polygon’s Code Attribution Claims](https://layer2daily.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Untitled-design-2021-12-17T185112.webp)
Matter Labs Refused to Copy Polygon’s Code
Alex Gluchowski, the co-founder and CEO of Matter Labs, which is behind zkSync, dismissed claims made by Polygon that his company borrowed parts of their open-source code without due credit. Speaking early Friday in Asia, Gluchowski stated that such allegations from Polygon are “entirely baseless.”
Polygon’s contention lies in Matter Labs’ recent product, Boojum, which they allege incorporated segments from Plonky2 – a zero-knowledge tech tool created by Polygon. While Plonky2 is an open-source system, Polygon insists that Matter Labs failed to attribute it properly in Boojum, a zero-knowledge proof mechanism running on the zkSync Era mainnet.
Refuting these claims on Twitter, Gluchowski expressed, “Today’s accusations are without merit, misguiding, and it’s truly disheartening coming from a team I hold in high regard.” He previously asserted that credit was given to Polygon right at the commencement of the Boojum module.
Further deepening the contention, Polygon penned a blog post titled “Protect the Open Source Ethos”, emphasizing that appropriating source code without due acknowledgment and then making erroneous claims about its origin is detrimental to the open-source community. They stressed that while amending open-source code is permissible, the pioneers behind it deserve recognition.
Delving Into the Dispute
Addressing these allegations, Gluchowski pointed out, “Anyone going through Polygon’s post would deduce that Boojum predominantly employs Plonky2 code with minimal innovation, and that we supposedly utilized this code sans proper acknowledgment. This interpretation is utterly incorrect.”
On the contrary, Polygon contended that the code was incorporated “absent its original copyrights or explicit acknowledgment to the initial creators”, even furnishing screenshots in their post as evidence, showing similarities in the coding of both systems.
As a point of clarification, Gluchowski highlighted that a mere 5% of Boojum’s coding is derived from Plonky2. He emphasized that both Plonky2 and Boojum stem from the RedShift blueprint — an initiative pioneered by Matter Labs, which predates Plonky2’s release by three years.
“While the Plonky2 team did allude to RedShift in their documentation, they never credited us. We never made it an issue,” Gluchowski remarked.
Reiterating the spirit of open-source collaborations, Gluchowski noted, “True open source revolves around sincere collaboration. Had Polygon’s team sought additional acknowledgment, a simple pull request would have sufficed, which we’d have readily approved.”
Stay connected in our community: Twitter | Telegram: @layer2daily_cig