Polygon (MATIC)
Polygon is a decentralized Ethereum-scaling platform designed to solve the problem of scalability without sacrificing on the security offered by the Ethereum mainnet.
This powerful innovation encourage developers to build Ethereum-scalable dApps with lower transaction fees and incredibly fast transaction speed without sacrificing on security. Polygon uses the Proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to validate transactions and reach consensus.
The Polygon Network project was developed in 2017 by four software engineers — Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic.
In February 2021, the project changed its name to Polygon, while its scope expanded and extended to the metaverse.
Here’s what’s interesting…
Polygon has morphed from being just a layer 2 scaling solution to becoming a sidechain supporting the development of EVM-compatible dApps while ensuring incredible transaction throughput and low-cost transaction fees.
It does this by employing the Polygon SDK (software development kits) which guarantees seamless dApp creation on a network. This move by the OxPolygon team is geared towards achieving a multi-chain Ethereum without sacrificing on the security offered by the Ethereum network. This puts Ethereum almost in the same camp as Polkadot, Cosmos, Avalanche.
The Polygon SDK exists in 2 iterations – supporting the development of stand-alone chains which allow chains that have interoperability with the Ethereum network to be deployed.
And ultimately, building of actual layer 2 protocols by developer teams directly on the Ethereum mainnet.
Intriguing stuff, I guess.
But that’s not all.
There are a ton of dApps using Polygon to scale ranging from DeFi, NFTs, Utilities, CEXs, Games, DAOs, Tools, B2Bs etc. This is incredible but that’s just barely scratching the surface.
There’s more and I’ll tell you all about it in a moment but first let’s talk about the token native to the Polygon network.
The Polygon network has a governance token known as $MATIC used for paying gas fees on the network, securing the network by validators and participating in governance.
Currently, there are over 4 billion $MATIC staked and over 100 validators on the Polygon network .
You can also stake $MATIC to earn staking rewards on Binance, Lido finance where you’re offered liquid staking and on the Polygon staking platform.
Ultimately, the team at OxPolygon in recent times have been doing a great job of onboarding top Web2 brands into the Web3 space. This is because Polygon network has morphed into a home for Web2 talents looking to build a career in Web3.
This is a leading indicator that the Web3 era is almost here and certainly the next generation of the internet.
It’s almost certain that the native token of the Polygon network, $MATIC will have a good run leading into the next crypto bull market.
However, this is not financial advice as the crypto market is extremely volatile and riddled with risks.
Written by: Paschal Ajaegbu.
