It’s been another relatively strong day in the world of crypto nearly across the board. However, certain projects are outperforming others, and Polygon (MATIC-USD) is one such crypto investors are keeping their eye on today. At the time of writing, MATIC crypto has surged nearly 4% over the past 24 hours, beating the gains seen by the overall crypto market.

This surge appears to be tied to news that the beta of the network’s zkEVM mainnet will go live on March 27. This launch, which will bring zero-knowledge scaling to Polygon’s Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), is a big deal. That’s because Polygon’s EVM is where all smart contracts live. For any sort of development on Polygon, its EVM will play a key role. And the introduction of zero-knowledge rollups could absolutely change the game.

Let’s dive into what zero-knowledge rollups are and why this all matters for investors.

MATIC Crypto Is On the Move Ahead of Key Launch Date

Zero-knowledge rollups are generally viewed as one of the key breakthroughs necessary for crypto to get to the next level. Scalability, or the ability for networks to process more transactions faster and at a lower cost, is the silver bullet everyone’s after. Zero-knowledge rollups are supposed to be the means to bring this about.

Essentially, zero-knowledge rollups bundle transactions together, using proofs to ensure the privacy of user data while also ensuring the transactions are real. It’s a highly-technical process involving some pretty complex math. But the idea is to be able to confirm a transaction and the parties involved in the transaction while knowing as little about the transacting parties as possible.

As far as key upgrades in the crypto world are concerned, this is a big one. I’ll be sure to keep my eye on how this rollout goes, and I’m sure Polygon investors will as well. Accordingly, I expect some volatility between now and the upgrade date as investors price in the probability of success for this big-time improvement.

On the date of publication, Chris MacDonald did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.