Polygon (MATIC) – Infrastructure for billion users

Scalability. Security. Interoperability. The holy trinity in the crypto space. These three factors have become the lifeline for success in the industry. Nailing just one is extremely difficult, let alone successfully implementing all three.

Polygon, however, does not lack ambition – they took on the challenge.  

Ethereum, one of the industry pioneers, has encountered its fair share of challenges in all of these three areas. Polygon (formerly Matic Network) aims to address all of Ethereum’s limitations and unleash its full potential.

In this guide, we will explore the world of Polygon. If you have wondered what Polygon is, why it is significant, or what its future looks like, we have good news for you. You will get all the answers here!

Let’s begin.

What is Polygon (MATIC)?

Imagine a freeway with tolls. Toll fees are determined by the amount of traffic – more traffic, more expensive fees. During rush hour, the freeway gets congested, which means slow traffic and extremely high fees. That’s Ethereum.

Polygon, on the other hand, tries to ease that burden. Polygon wants to lower toll fees and speed up the traffic. You can think of Polygon as a network of side roads branching out from the main highway.

These side roads are designed to ease the traffic, offering faster routes and less expensive transaction fees while keeping the main highway (Ethereum) less congested. Polygon acts as a bridge that connects these side roads to Ethereum. It’s like building efficient bypasses to ensure a smoother journey on the blockchain highway.

In other words, Polygon aims to improve Ethereum. 

Why Was It Needed?

The need for Polygon stems from Ethereum’s inherent limitations. 

Ethereum’s network gets congested during ‘rush hour,’ which drives gas fees absurdly high. Increased gas fees and slow transactions hinder Ethereum’s usability, especially for small investors.

Polygon was conceived as a means to address these challenges, offering developers a robust framework to build and deploy applications on the Ethereum network while overcoming scalability bottlenecks.

Key Features of Polygon (MATIC)

Scalability

Polygon’s top feature. 

Whereas Ethereum processes roughly 17 transactions per second, Polygon can handle up to a staggering 65,000 transactions every second – traffic jams, no mo’! And the gas fees? Pennies.

With its independent yet compatible sidechains, Polygon significantly improves the user experience of all Ethereum-based services.

Security

Security is a top priority in the blockchain space. While focusing heavily on scalability, Polygon doesn’t compromise on this front. Its security measures are actually top-notch when it comes to industry standards.

Polygon ensures safe asset movement and smart contract deployment. It does this by borrowing security from Ethereum itself. That’s a pretty smart contract (pun intended).

Interoperability

Now, remember what we mentioned earlier about nailing all three factors? Well, Polygon might be pretty close. It doesn’t operate in isolation but instead fosters interoperability by connecting various blockchains, including other layer-2 solutions. 

This interconnectedness promotes the seamless flow of assets and data between different chains, opening up new possibilities for cross-chain applications and collaborations.

In simple terms, Polygon allows different blockchain networks to communicate with each other. Think of it as a real-time translator in a multi-language conference.

The Rise of MATIC Token

Crypto investors often refer to Polygon as Matic, after its own token. And also probably because – this is just speculation – it’s faster to write.

Tokenomics and Usage

Matic token (MATIC) is at the heart of the Polygon ecosystem. It plays a pivotal role in securing the network, facilitating transactions, and participating in the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. 

Matic serves as both a utility token and a means of exchange within the Polygon network. 

Matic has garnered attention for its diverse range of use cases, including staking, governance, and as a medium of exchange for decentralized applications.

To simplify, if Polygon is an engine, Matic is fuel.

Recent Performance

Since its inception, Polygon has experienced exponential growth and adoption by every metric, including market capitalization, trading volume, and monthly active users. Naturally, it has also seen a significant appreciation in price throughout its history. It’s no wonder Polygon sits regularly among the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Excellent performance has caught the eye of both investors and developers, further solidifying Polygon’s position as the go-to Ethereum L2.

Key figures of MATIC token. October 2023. Source: CoinMarketCap.

With nearly 5 million monthly users, Polygon has one of the largest user bases in all of crypto. It leaves some monumental names, such as Ethereum, Uniswap, and Solana, far behind.  

Daily, approximately half a million people use Polygon’s network. Sure, it’s only a fraction compared to the big social media platforms. But in crypto? Those are some solid numbers.

Number of daily active users in Polygon. January-October 2023. Source: Token Terminal.

But it’s not just users: MATIC investors and other Polygon enthusiasts form a huge, active community on social media platforms. Many have become aware of the token’s pivotal role in the Polygon ecosystem and realize its value.

Polygon has over 1.5 million followers on all social media platforms combined. It’s the 9th most of all crypto projects. 

What makes Polygon special?

Seamless Transactions

Polygon’s impact on the decentralized finance (DeFi) space cannot be overstated. It introduces seamless and lightning-fast transactions, eliminating the delays and high fees associated with Ethereum. 

DeFi protocols hosted on Polygon have seen increased user engagement as users flock to take advantage of the improved efficiency.

Lower Fees

Trust us; we know – using Ethereum-based services can be super frustrating, given its megalomanic gas fees during rush hour. 

But where others saw a problem, Polygon saw an opportunity. It drastically reduces these fees, making DeFi more accessible to a broader audience. This has democratized DeFi, enabling users to participate without the financial barriers imposed by high gas costs.

Future of Polygon

Anticipated Developments

Let’s talk about Polygon’s vision. Even though they’ve succeeded extremely well in the past, their journey is far from over. In the future, Polygon will focus on further enhancing scalability, integrating more popular DeFi services, and acquiring both developers and users. 

Polygon’s ecosystem continues to evolve, with new innovations emerging on the regular. 

Roadblocks

Despite its promising trajectory, Polygon faces challenges. Competition among layer-2 solutions is fierce, the regulation framework is unpredictable, and Polygon could face other unforeseen technical hurdles. These all could turn out as major obstacles.

Not to mention all the Ethereum-related limitations:

• High transaction costs 
• Low throughput 
• Problematic UX  

But you’ll be glad to know that the team behind Polygon remains committed to overcoming these challenges and driving the project forward.

Conclusion

Polygon is undeniably setting new standards for scaling solutions and showing us a glimpse of what the future of blockchain could look like. 

Polygon’s commitment to scalability, security, and interoperability has unlocked new possibilities not only for Ethereum but the broader blockchain ecosystem as well. 

As Polygon continues to grow and evolve, the odds are it will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of decentralized applications and finance.

Please note that Coinmotion only supports MATIC transfers via the ERC20 blockchain.

Polygon (Matic) – F.A.Q

Got questions about Polygon (Matic)? Check out our FAQs section to find answers to commonly asked queries about this innovative blockchain solution.

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