We use Grayson’s binary multicomplex presentation of algebraic
-theory
to give a new construction of exterior power operations on the higher
-groups
of a (quasicompact) scheme. We show that these operations satisfy the axioms of a
-ring,
including the product and composition laws. To prove the latter we show that the
Grothendieck group of the exact category of integral polynomial functors is the universal
-ring
on one generator.