Project Name: Polygon
Project Ticker: MATIC
Website: polygon.technology
Twitter Account: twitter.com/0xPolygon
Whitepaper: polygon.technology/papers
What Is Polygon (MATIC)?
The Polygon network was established to increase scalability as a decentralized blockchain. Polygon combines the Ethereum blockchain and other blockchains, offering low gas fees and fast processing power. Overall, Polygon is a solution that provides high scalability and improved user experience for decentralized applications (DApps) users and off/side chain scalability for existing platforms. Polygon provides key components and tools to participate in the decentralized finance ecosystem.
What Does Polygon Offer?
Ethereum Technology offers a lower transaction speed compared to the decentralized structure and new blockchain platforms, and high gas fees affect the use of the network. Developed as a solution to the scalability problem, Polygon serves as a framework for building blockchain networks compatible with Ethereum and producing scalability solutions. Rather than a single solution, Polygon is a protocol. The network's Polygon SDK allows developers to create networks that work in harmony with Ethereum. Polygon also supports the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which enables the migration of existing applications on the Ethereum network to the Polygon network.
The Polygon Bridge
Thanks to the Polygon Bridge, users can move their funds to the Polygon network from another network. In this case, the user pays a mainnet transaction fee since the transfer over the bridge is made on the mainnet. Most transactions that can be made on the Ethereum network can also be made on the Polygon network. However, Polygon, an alternative to the Ethereum network with low transaction fees and fast processing power, has not yet reached the security level of the Ethereum network.
On the Polygon network, some of the most popular DeFi applications are available, such as Aave, 1inch, Curve, and Sushi.
Polygon’s Technology
The Polygon network supports 2 types of Ethereum compatible networks, and these networks are called secure networks and independent networks. Secure networks use the infrastructure of the chains to which they are connected. Therefore, secure networks do not need to build their own security models. Independent networks, on the other hand, need to create their own security models. In other words, while secure networks provide high security, independent networks have a flexible structure that can be shaped according to needs. The Polygon network works by combining the Plasma Framework and Proof of Stake blockchain architecture. The Plasma Framework was created by Ethereum to build scalable applications.
In addition to Proof of Stake, Polygon has block creators at the block creation layer to remain highly decentralized. These block creators keep the main chains running smoothly by using checkpoints and anti-fraud mechanisms.
The Polygon network’s native token MATIC was created in the ERC-20 standard. The network's old name, MATIC, was changed to Polygon, but the name of the native token remained MATIC.
The increase in transfer transactions on the Ethereum network leads to a decrease in the transaction speed of the network and an increase in gas fees, and Polygon offers solutions to this problem.
The Polygon Team & Company
The Polygon network was founded in 2017 by experienced blockchain developers Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, and professional consultant Anurag Arjun. Co-founder Jaynti Kanani is the blockchain developer and the CEO of Polygon.
Sandeep Nailwal, Co-Founder and COO of Polygon is an entrepreneurial blockchain programmer. Prior to the founding of Polygon, Sandeep served as CEO of Scopeweaver and Chief Technical Officer of the Welspun Group.
Prior to Polygon, professional consultant Anurag Arjun worked as a Product Manager at IRIS Business, SNL Financial, Dexter Consultancy, and Cognizant Technologies.
The team has also worked to integrate the WalletConnect protocol and the Dagger event notification engine, which is widely used on the Ethereum network, into Plasma MVP.
Polygon’s Digital Asset Economy
As of February 8, 2022, the number of MATIC in circulation is approximately 7.46 billion. The maximum and total supply of the Polygon network’s native token is 10 billion MATIC. About 75% of the maximum supply is in circulation.
At the first private sale in 2017, 3.8% of the maximum supply of MATIC entered circulation, and in the April 2019 sale, 19% of the total supply was in circulation. According to the whitepaper of the project, the entire supply of the token will enter the market by December 2022.
The distribution of MATIC is as follows:
- 16% of the total supply is allocated to the team,
- 4% of the total supply is allocated to the consultants,
- 12% of the total supply is allocated to network operations,
- 21.86% of the total supply is allocated to the foundation,
- 23.33% of the total supply is allocated to the ecosystem.
Polygon Collaborations
The Polygon network has collaborated with various projects and brands since its launch.
- Kyber Network’s liquidity-focused new protocol Kyber DMM (Dynamic Market Maker) will launch on the Polygon network.
- IoTeX’s decentralized cross-chain bridge ioTube v4 will also work on the Polygon network.
- Polygon collaborated with CargoX Platform for the Blockchain Document Transfer (BDT), which was created to help companies create a secure environment for the logistics, manufacturing, finance, trade, energy and service sectors to enable transactions.
- Polygon has started a liquidity mining service in partnership with Sushiswap.
- Ocean Protocol partnered with Polygon to bring its Web3 Data Economy tools to Polygon’s Layer-2 chain and ecosystem.
- Polygon included Curve Finance to its ecosystem with a partnership.
- Flurry Finance partnered with Polygon to provide cross-chain functionality for its decentralized finance (DeFi) community.
- Dolce & Gabbana has released its first NFT collection powered by Polygon. Italian luxury house Prada and sportswear giant Adidas, which recently stepped into the Metaverse, partnered with Polygon to launch a new NFT project built on the Polygon network.
Evaluation of Polygon
Decentralization, security, and scalability are the three primary features of Blockchain Technology that are difficult to achieve at the same time. The Ethereum blockchain is a leading project in terms of both decentralization and security. With these features, the Ethereum network is used by many. With the increasing number of users, the number of transactions on the Ethereum network also increases. And the increasing number of transactions is slowing down the process of taking over and validating transactions by miners. As a result, gas fees and the cost of the decentralization and security of the Ethereum network are increasing.
Polygon acts as a bridge to easily connect the Ethereum network to other networks to find a solution to the scalability problem. The team behind the project has contributed to the Ethereum ecosystem through their work. Polygon aims to promote the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies by solving the scalability problem in many blockchain networks.
