By Kapil Rajyaguru
In addition to being a blockchain technology platform that enables blockchain networks to connect and expand, Polygon is a cryptocurrency with the symbol MATIC.
In order to connect and create blockchains and projects compatible with Ethereum, the MATIC token-powered Polygon platform was launched.
Since MATIC is an ERC-20 token, it can be used with other cryptocurrencies based on the Ethereum platform. The Polygon network is governed, protected, and network transaction fees are paid using MATIC.
The Objective
By offering a sidechain solution, Polygon aims to address some of the issues that the Ethereum network is facing, such as excessive transaction costs and a lack of community governance.
Polygon is a Layer 2 solution built on Ethereum with following features.
- It can deploy existing blockchain networks and develop custom blockchains
- Enable communication between Ethereum and other blockchains
- Help existing blockchain networks to become compatible with Ethereum
In other words, this sidechain was created to assist Ethereum increase its efficiency, security, size, and usefulness.
How it works
Staking, governance, and network nodes are all the same as on other proof-of-stake platforms, including Polygon.
All of the Polygon-based blockchains are connected through the Polygon Protocol. These blockchains are linked to the Ethereum network using the same protocol in order to benefit from Ethereum’s security architecture.
History
Polygon was founded in 2017 as Matic Network. It was the brainchild of experienced Ethereum developers Jayant Kanani, Anurag Arjun, Sandeep Nailwal, and Mihailo Bjelic.
Matic rebranded to Polygon in February 2021 and became more than a scaling solution for Ethereum. The platform was ready to onboard major DeFi protocols two months after the rebranding. The team believed that several scaling solutions could co-exist and was on a mission to create an infrastructure to make this a reality.
MATIC Token
Even after rebranding, the team decided to keep $MATIC as the native token that powers the entire Polygon ecosystem. $MATIC is now among the top 20 currencies in terms of market capitalization.
As of December 2022, $Matic has a market capitalization of $6,842,225,164.
Matic has a maximum supply of 10 billion out of which 8.73 billion MATIC tokens have already been used.
MATIC token has three primary use cases in the Polygon ecosystem:
- Gas token
- Governance
- Network security
According to DefiLlama the Total Value Locked (TVL) on Ethereum as of December 2022 is $1 billion.
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