Polygon provides builders a framework to construct and launch their very own blockchains that join again to the Ethereum community. These chains usually are not forks or copies of Polygon itself. They’re unbiased networks that tasks management solely, constructed utilizing Polygon’s Chain Growth Package, often called the CDK.
As of 2026, Polygon has repositioned CDK from a self-serve open-source toolkit right into a managed, enterprise-grade service, with actual deployments working at scale from OKX, Immutable, and Astar Community.
What Is the Polygon CDK?
The Polygon CDK is a framework that lets groups construct customized blockchains secured by zero-knowledge proofs and settled on Ethereum. Consider it as a modular development package. A mission works with Polygon to configure the elements it wants, then launches a series that fits its particular use case.
Every chain constructed with the CDK makes use of zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic methodology that lets one occasion show one thing is true with out revealing the underlying information. This retains transactions verifiable and safe with out posting all transaction information on to Ethereum.
One essential distinction value realizing: Polygon’s personal zkEVM product, which was a separate public chain, set to sundown on July 1, 2026. That’s totally different from CDK-based customized chains, which stay totally energetic and are unaffected by that shutdown. Tasks like X Layer and Immutable zkEVM run on CDK infrastructure, not on Polygon’s deprecated zkEVM chain.
Is the Polygon CDK Nonetheless Free and Open Supply?
That is the place issues have shifted considerably since CDK’s early days.
The underlying code stays open supply below the GNU AGPL license on GitHub. Nevertheless, Polygon has repositioned the product itself. As of 2026, Polygon’s official documentation describes CDK as “Chain-as-a-service, not a self-serve package.” Tasks work straight with Polygon Labs to design, construct, and function a bespoke chain. Implementation companions together with Gateway and Conduit handle manufacturing deployments with enterprise SLAs and 24/7 assist.
This doesn’t imply CDK is unavailable to non-enterprise groups. However the present product providing is a managed service, not a toolkit a staff merely downloads and deploys independently.
Groups evaluating CDK ought to consider operational assist, sequencer administration, and infrastructure choices as a part of the equation, sometimes dealt with with Polygon and its companions.
How Does a Customized Chain Really Work?
Each CDK chain settles its transactions on Ethereum. Which means Ethereum’s safety backs the chain, despite the fact that the chain itself operates independently.
Here’s what a mission can configure when constructing with the CDK:
- The gasoline token, which means the forex used to pay transaction charges on that chain
- The info availability layer, which determines the place transaction information is saved
- The execution setting, which controls what sort of sensible contracts the chain runs
- The sequencer, which is the part that orders transactions
- Privateness controls, together with non-public information availability and role-based entry for regulated use circumstances
This degree of management issues for tasks that want low charges, quick finality, or a selected token because the native gasoline forex. A gaming mission, for instance, would possibly need its personal token to pay gasoline as an alternative of ETH. An establishment dealing with funds would possibly want configurable privateness controls and compliance tooling baked into the chain at launch.
Chains constructed with the CDK join to one another via the AggLayer, Polygon’s interoperability protocol. AggLayer lets property and information transfer between CDK chains with out going again via Ethereum every time, which reduces prices and hastens cross-chain exercise. AggLayer is now a core a part of Polygon’s infrastructure, actively used throughout a number of deployed chains and not in early improvement.
Who Is Already Utilizing It?
A number of established tasks have launched chains utilizing the CDK.
OKX, one of many largest crypto exchanges by quantity, launched X Layer utilizing the Polygon CDK. X Layer makes use of $OKB, OKX’s native token, as its gasoline token. In August 2025, X Layer accomplished a significant efficiency improve, often called the Pessimistic Proof improve, boosting throughput to five,000 transactions per second and decreasing gasoline charges additional. X Layer connects to AggLayer and serves OKX’s greater than 50 million customers as its main on-chain community.
Immutable, a platform centered on blockchain gaming and NFTs, constructed Immutable zkEVM with the CDK. The chain makes use of IMX as its native gasoline token and reached 2 million month-to-month energetic customers inside its first yr of mainnet operation. Energetic titles on the platform embrace RavenQuest, which drew over 1 million distinctive viewers on Twitch earlier than its world launch, and Ubisoft’s Would possibly and Magic Fates, which is being constructed on Immutable zkEVM by one of many world’s largest recreation studios.
Astar Community, a Japanese blockchain mission, additionally migrated its infrastructure to a CDK-based chain and has focused tokenization of real-world property via AggLayer.
What Are the Commerce-offs?
Working a customized chain comes with actual operational prices. Beneath the present CDK mannequin, groups work with Polygon and its implementation companions to handle the sequencer, infrastructure, and ongoing upgrades. This lowers the technical barrier in comparison with constructing from scratch however introduces a dependency on Polygon’s managed ecosystem.
There’s additionally a fragmentation consideration. The extra chains that exist, the more durable it may be for customers to maneuver property between them with out friction. AggLayer addresses this straight by routing liquidity and property throughout CDK chains with out requiring customers to undergo Ethereum every time. Its adoption throughout energetic chains like X Layer and Katana Community, a DeFi-focused CDK chain incubated by Polygon Labs, reveals the interoperability layer is operational, not simply deliberate.
Conclusion
Polygon’s CDK provides tasks a concrete path to launching their very own Ethereum-secured blockchains with configurable privateness, customized gasoline tokens, and built-in interoperability via AggLayer. The product has matured from an open-source toolkit right into a managed enterprise service, which adjustments how groups ought to plan a deployment.
Actual-world examples from OKX, Immutable, and Astar affirm the infrastructure works at scale. Groups contemplating CDK right this moment ought to account for the managed service mannequin and consider operational necessities alongside the technical capabilities.
- Polygon CDK Official Web page – Official product web page for Polygon CDK, protecting the chain-as-a-service mannequin, structure, and institutional use circumstances.
- Polygon CDK Developer Documentation – Technical documentation protecting CDK structure, execution stacks, rollup modes, and deployment steering.
- Polygon AggLayer – How Polygon’s interoperability layer connects CDK chains and allows cross-chain asset motion.
- OKX X Layer PP Improve Announcement – OKX’s official announcement on X Layer’s August 2025 efficiency improve, protecting throughput enhancements and $OKB gasoline token adjustments.
- Immutable zkEVM State of Q1 2025, Messari – Impartial evaluation of Immutable zkEVM’s transaction exercise, consumer progress, and CDK infrastructure.
- Ubisoft Companions with Immutable on Would possibly and Magic Fates – Official announcement of Ubisoft constructing on Immutable zkEVM, together with ecosystem milestones.
- Polygon zkEVM Sundown Web page – Polygon’s official web page confirming the July 1, 2026 sundown of Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta and the asset migration course of.
