I. What is Polygon?
Polygon is a protocol stack meant to address Ethereum’s scalability issues. By managing transactions on a second Ethereum-compatible blockchain, the Polygon network overcomes the network’s issues.
Following that, Polygon returns transactions to the main Ethereum blockchain for post-processing. This method reduces the network burden on Ethereum. Polygon may therefore speed up transactions while lowering transaction costs to less than a penny.
In other words, Polygon, originally known as the Matic network, provides a simple foundation for new and current blockchain applications to develop on Ethereum without worrying about scalability.
Users may engage with any Decentralized Application (DApp) using Polygon without ever having to worry about network congestion.
II. History of Polygon
Jaynti Kanani, a data scientist at Housing.com, discovered a “weak link” in the Ethereum blockchain in 2017. The NFT project Cryptokitties was huge at the time. Unfortunately, the project’s excessive activity clogged the network. The processing times were quite long, and the petrol expenses were expensive. This restricted the number and amount of transactions. Furthermore, these challenges raised concerns about security, efficiency, and usefulness.
Kanani contacted blockchain developer Sandeep Nailwal and business consultant Anurag Arjun. In October 2017, the three collaborated to develop Matic. The decentralized network they built attempted to overcome Ethereum’s scalability issue.
Later, its scope was broadened to include more ambitious ambitions. At the same time, they stuck to their core aim of scalability on the Ethereum platform. As a result, the platform was rebranded in February 2021 to reflect the new focus. They changed the name from Matic to Polygon but kept the Matic moniker for its native crypto coin.
III. Striking Features of Polygon (MATIC)
Some of its key features include:
- Availability: On Polygon sidechains, transactions are quick, low-cost, and safe, with finality on the mainchain and Ethereum as the first suitable Layer 1 base chain.
- High throughput: On the internal testnet, it was able to reach up to 7,000 TPS on a single sidechain. For horizontal scaling, many chains will be created.
- Customer experience: WalletConnect support; native mobile applications and SDK; and developer abstraction from mainchain to Polygon chain.
- Security: Operators of polygon chains are also stakers in the PoS system.
- Public sidechains: Unlike individual dApp chains, Matic sidechains are open to the public, permissionless, and capable of supporting numerous protocols.
IV. Core Technology of Polygon (MATIC)
In terms of network nodes, governance, staking, and other capabilities, Polygon is comparable to other Proof of Stake (PoS) systems.
1. Proof of Stake Consensus
The platform uses Proof of Stake consensus, which depends on a network of node validators to check and validate transaction blocks, rather than the traditional Proof of Work (PoW), which requires a massive amount of computing power to produce new blocks.
The primary distinction is that instead of needing to do the work (as in PoW algorithms), token holders validate and verify transactions in PoS.
Polygon’s PoS ecosystem operates by paying users with MATIC, the protocol’s native token. You may earn MATIC by selecting one of the following options:
- Become a validator and commit to the network by running a full node to validate transactions on the blockchain. As a node validator, you receive a cut of fees and a newly created MATIC. However, if you act maliciously, make a mistake, or even if your internet connection is slow, your MATIC rewards will be slashed as punishment.
- Become a delegator, which is a type of public node. As a delegator, you receive other people’s MATIC and use it to help the network conduct PoS validation. The larger the delegated stake, the higher the delegator’s voting power. This is easier than being a node validator, but it also comes with its challenges.
2. Polygon Bridge
To move cash from the Ethereum network to the Polygon sidechain, you must utilize the PoS bridge, which is a collection of smart contracts that aid in the transfer of assets from the Ethereum mainnet to the Polygon sidechain.
The PoS bridge serves as the foundation for transferring assets from Ethereum to Polygon and then using these monies to interact with the Polygon ecosystem’s applications and blockchains. Of course, you’ll have to pay a transaction fee in ETH, which can be costly, but once you’re in the Polygon network, transactions are extremely inexpensive – less than a dollar.
3. Polygon Protocol
The Polygon Protocol connects all Polygon-based blockchains to the Ethereum network and each other. It also enables chains to connect to Ethereum and inherit its security paradigm.
4. Polygon’s Software Development Kit (SDK)
Polygon unveiled the Polygon Software Development Kit (SDK) in May 2021, a set of plug-and-play software tools that let developers create their own fully customizable blockchains and DeFi applications.
The fundamental aim is to make Ethereum a fully-fledged multi-chain system, which it currently is, but the Ethereum ecosystem’s existing constraints and lack of structure make it difficult for developers to work on their projects.
Polygon SDK, based on three primary concepts: Ethereum compatibility, modularity, and extensibility intend to strengthen the ecosystem by providing a flexible platform for developers interested in working on Ethereum scaling and infrastructure solutions.
The Polygon SDK has two editions. The initial version includes support for Ethereum-compatible stand-alone chains, which are autonomous blockchains in charge of their own modules and security. These chains can connect with Ethereum through the Polygon bridge while remaining independent (e.g., exchanging assets or sending arbitrary messages).
V. What is MATIC?
1. Detailed Information about MATIC
The Polygon token, known as MATIC, is the system’s primary resource. In addition to being used for exchange payments, it is also used to store tokens to safeguard the Polygon network. Following a massive increase in usage, the Polygon MATIC token’s price has skyrocketed since its rebranding.
The MATIC token has a total quantity of 10 billion tokens, with a current circulating supply of around 5 billion. MATIC coin is available on the majority of well-known decentralized and centralized trading platforms, including well-known brands like Binance, 1inch Exchange, and Coinbase Pro. The crypto community is banding together to make it easier to buy Polygon (MATIC) tokens with both fiat and crypto. According to CoinGecko, the Polygon MATIC market has an absolute market valuation of 1.8 billion dollars at the time of writing. The polygon MATIC token is now worth around 0.36 dollars.
2. MATIC Allocation
The initial token distribution is as follows:
- Private Sale: 3.80%
- Binance Launchpad Sale (IEO): 19% of the total supply
- Team: 16%
- Advisors: 4%
- Network Operations: 12%
- Foundation: 21.86%
- Ecosystem: 23.33%
3. MATIC Token Metrics
- Token Name: Polygon
- Ticker: MATIC
- Blockchain: Ethereum
- Token Standard: ERC210
- Contract: 0x7d1afa7b718fb893db30a3abc0cfc608aacfebb0
- Token Type: Utility
- Total Supply: 10,000,000,000 MATIC
- Circulating Supply: 6,872,890,164 MATIC
4. Use Cases of MATIC
All transactions on the plasma chains will be paid for using MATIC. As a result, the bigger the number of projects that employ Polygon as a scaling solution, the greater the need for MATIC.
Furthermore, MATIC functions as a governance token by allowing holders the power to vote on which of the numerous scaling methods planned should be implemented.
If the community loves a new layer-2 scaling solution and wants Polygon to integrate it, token holders can vote on whether the solution is added to Polygon’s product line. As a result, governance voting allows MATIC token holders to vote on Polygon’s destiny.
VI. How to earn & own MATIC?
MATIC may be purchased on cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase or Gemini, just like many other popular cryptocurrencies. If you don’t already have an account, you’ll need to join up and verify your identity before you can get started.
After making an account, you may be able to purchase MATIC using a bank transfer, wire transfer, debit card, or credit card. MATIC may also be purchased with USD or other fiat currencies on Cryptocurrency Exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Crypto.com, to name a few.
Some cryptocurrency exchanges also provide stake services, which allow you to earn interest on your MATIC while leaving your tokens at the exchange. MATIC can also be purchased on decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap.
Depending on the crypto wallet, you may be able to acquire MATIC directly through a payment processor known as a fiat on-ramp. Alternatively, you may be required to acquire a separate token and then pay a price to switch it with MATIC.
If you wish to receive MATIC on the Polygon Mainnet, link an approved wallet and utilize the official Polygon Bridge to deposit and withdraw MATIC. Some wallets, like the Crypto.com DeFi Wallet software, let you directly accept MATIC from the Polygon network.
VII. Which Crypto Wallets are suitable for MATIC?
Here is the list of popular and best Polygon (MATIC) wallets:
- FTX
- Crypto.com
- Ledger Nano X
- Binance
- Trezor Model T
- Trust Wallet
- MetaMask
VIII. MATIC Recent Developments
1. Recent Developments
While the price of Polygon (MATIC) has temporarily fallen, the network has not. Polygon has revealed that the number of unique addresses on its network has recently surpassed 100 million for the first time.
Because of its low transaction costs and availability to decentralized financial (DeFi) apps, the Polygon Network is gaining popularity. However, Polygon hiked their transaction fees by 30x in early October (from 1 gwei to a minimum of 30 gwei).
While members of the Polygon community protested the move, querying the development team about whether any feedback was gathered before the shift was done, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal indicated that the move was required to dissuade spam transactions on the network.
Amun has announced the development of the Polygon Ecosystem Index — PECO — in more community-pleasing news. This is the first index token meant to measure the performance of Polygon’s top projects. PECO hopes to provide a simple and low-cost option to invest in Polygon’s robust and expanding ecosystem of DeFi and NFT projects by cooperating with the Polygon Foundation and other top projects in the ecosystem.
Polygon has teamed with Agri10x, India’s largest B2B e-marketplace. The collaboration will see both giants collaborate to give the agriculture industry a makeover. Polygon Studios has announced a collaboration with DraftKings, a renowned provider of digital sports entertainment and gaming. Polygon will use the relationship to drive the adoption of NFTs and Web 3.0.
Polygon will employ DraftKings’ digital sports experience to attract a whole new NFT audience to Polygon Studios: Polygon’s gaming and NFT branch that focuses on bridging the gap between Web 2 and Web 3 gaming. Polygon has had its fair share of accomplishments recently. Among them is a partnership with Reddit to airdrop collectible avatars. This was obtained through Reddit’s new avatar marketplace, which is powered by Polygon.
2. Future Events
The Axion Network, a high-yield interest rate platform for long-term investing, will begin the transition to the Polygon Network. Axion stated that its services would begin migrating to Polygon on October 19 (19:00 UTC).
Klever Exchange has announced that Polygon (MATIC) will be listed on its platform starting October 21. Users will be able to deposit and withdraw MATIC/USDT, MATIC/KLV, MATIC/BTC, and MATIC/USDC.
KleverWallet customers may now purchase MATIC using a bank card or ApplePay. On October 26, 2021, trading will begin on the Klever Exchange. MATIC was listed on Upbit, Korea’s largest exchange, just days before the announcement.
DeFi growth engine Vesper Finance has announced the Beta launch of its integration with the Polygon Network. Users can now interact with Ethereum mainnet and Polygon networks at the Vesper Dev site.
Polygon beta launches with support for USDC, DAI, WETH, and WBTC Grow Pools. What is more interesting, though, is upon full integration, Vesper will expand to other EVM chains and Layer-2 networks, such as Avalanche, Arbitrum, or Fantom.
IX. Teams, Funds & Partners of Polygon (MATIC)
1. Team
2. Investment Funds
Polygon has secured $450 million in a new venture financing round as the company, which has a market capitalization of over $13 billion, rapidly extends its portfolio of Ethereum scaling solutions and strives to attract the bigger developer ecosystem.
Sequoia Capital India led Polygon’s first major financing round. Tiger Global and SoftBank as well as Galaxy Digital, Republic Capital, Makers Fund, Alameda Research, Alan Howard, Dune Ventures, Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six, Steadview Capital, Unacademy, Elevation Capital, Animoca Brands, Spartan Fund, Dragonfly Capital, Variant Fund, Sino Global Capital and Kevin O’Leary also participated in the private token purchase.
3. Partners
X. Where is Polygon (MATIC) information to be updated?
Currently, Crypto users can fully consult, research, and analyze information about Polygon (MATIC) through famous media newspapers such as Nasdaq, Bloomberg, Forbes, AP News, Yahoo!Finance, CoinTelegraph, Coindesk, Blockchain Council, Kraken…
These media are constantly updated with useful information, new activities, outstanding events of Polygon, and all the topics surrounding it. Accordingly, Meta Lion Ventures continuously updates the topic of outstanding projects in Blockchain and hot events organized between Meta Lion & partners.
XI. FAQs about Polygon (MATIC)
- Who created Polygon?
Polygon, formerly known as the Matic Network, was founded in India in 2017. It was created by seasoned Ethereum engineers Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic.
The Matic Network went live in 2020 and has attracted some of the top names in the world of Decentralized Finance, also known as DeFi, including Decentraland and MakerDAO. The Matic Network rebranded to Polygon in February 2021.
The Polygon team raised the equivalent of $5.6 million in ETH in its April 2019 first offering by selling 1.9 billion MATIC tokens over a quick 20-day period.
- What can Crypto users do on Polygon?
Polygon has evolved from a simple scaling solution to a more broad and complex ecosystem with a diverse set of use cases for users and developers alike, including the ability to launch Ethereum-compatible blockchains, use Ethereum-based decentralized applications (DApps), mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs), become node validators, delegators, stake MATIC, and much more.
Polygon is used by a number of successful initiatives, including yield-generating protocols like Aave or Curve Finance, decentralized exchanges like SushiSwap, and the most popular decentralized NFT (Non-Fungible Token) marketplace, OpenSea.
Instead of Ethereum, you may use Polygon as the underlying blockchain for these protocols. For example, OpenSea allows you to utilize Polygon as the primary network instead of Ethereum every time you trade NFTs – all you need is a Polygon-compatible wallet like MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet and a connection to OpenSea.
- Are MATIC and Polygon interchangeable?
Polygon was known as Matic network before it changed its name in February 2021. The Matic network’s main offering was plasma sidechains.
Plasma chains are similar to side chains in that they provide better security in return for ease. Plasma chains, unlike sidechains, broadcast their “root” on Ethereum layer 1 and operate under the presumption that their consensus process may fail. This approach provides increased security while preventing these chains from performing sophisticated activities.
Polygon chose to preserve the ticker MATIC for its native coin when the project grew. As a result, the Matic network was renamed Polygon. Although the name change and subsequent rebranding may cause some confusion, they remain the same project. Polygon is the new umbrella project covering a number of initiatives, including the Matic network. The Polygon (MATIC) token, however, is Polygon’s native cryptocurrency.
- Where to buy the Polygon cryptocurrency?
Polygon (MATIC) may be purchased on well-known cryptocurrency exchanges including Coinbase and Binance. The only prerequisite is to create an account, locate and acquire MATIC tokens.
Experienced cryptocurrency users can opt to buy Polygon tokens via Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap. Purchasing via a DEX like Uniswap can be accomplished using wrapped Ethereum (wETH), an ERC-20 token that allows users to trade ETH on decentralized platforms. MATIC tokens can also be stored in a Polygon wallet.
Conclusion
Polygon is operating incredibly well given its vast breadth, continuous partnership announcements, and cryptographic developments. The firm has established a good reputation, and the MATIC coin has distinguished itself among the thousands of other Ethereum initiatives.
Polygon’s roster of partners is continually expanding. Ocean, Chainlink, Atari, and, more recently, Coinbase are among the notable partners. Many investors believe Polygon is significantly undervalued, and they may be correct.
It will be difficult to determine how promising the Polygon project will remain until Ethereum 2.0 is completely released. However, there is great potential for the market cap to grow as this initiative progresses. One major fear has been if the Polygon project may begin to steal TVL which is now locked on the Ethereum base layer, although this remains to be seen.
When compared to its competition, Polygon definitely stands out as a layer-2 solution to be reckoned with. And, while Polygon is still a young technology, it appears to be the most promising in terms of properly scaling Ethereum, for example, by maintaining decentralization while scaling without losing security.
