Introduction

Lately, the Ethereum network’s high commissions are breaking all records. The average commission hit $20 in February 2021 and is expected to rise further. The cause for this is the recent growth in tokens from the decentralized finance field, which are based on Ethereum and are slowing down the blockchain. In this article, you will discover how Polygon MATIC functions and what prospects it has.

What is Polygon (MATIC)

Polygon (previously known as Matic Network) is a secure Layer 2 (L2) network with autonomous sidechains. Its purpose is to boost Ethereum scalability while decreasing transaction costs. In addition to Matic PoS Chain and Matic Plasma Chains, Polygon will support Optimistic Rollups, ZK-Rollups, and Validium. MATIC first debuted its hybrid PoS+Plasma sidechain on Ethereum. According to the developers, MATIC is one of the world’s fastest-growing DApp platforms. The project was designed as a tool to cut transaction costs and speed up the work of decentralized applications and smart contracts, which have long plagued the main Ethereum network. Since the beginning of 2021, the project has grown exponentially, and the value of its tokens has increased 68 times. Furthermore, MATIC’s total capitalization exceeds 13 billion dollars.

First of all, MATIC is a native token for the Matic Network blockchain, used to pay network transaction fees and participate in the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, among other things. MATIC has also been included as a payment option into various external platforms upon request. Indeed, MATIC holders can vote on a variety of management issues and use steaking to increase network security. It is worth noting the fact that many exchange platforms list this digital asset. Also, you can trade and exchange MATIC with numerous other assets on the bit4you trading platform. 

History

The platform’s test network, known as Matic Network, went public in October 2017. The project’s team consists of four co-founders: CEO Jaynti Kanani and Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic. In April 2019, the company held an IEO for the token, raising $5.6 million. Then, the network’s creators changed the project’s name to Polygon in February 2021. The rebranding occurred concurrently with the transition from a second-tier Ethereum blockchain solution to a multichain system analogous to Polkadot.

In addition, long before the launch of the Matic Network and the IEO on Binance in April 2019, the Matic team had been contributing to the Ethereum ecosystem. Work on Plasma MVP implementations, as well as the WalletConnect protocol, is part of this. It provides customers with a safe and user-friendly way to access DApps, as well as the widely used Dagger event notification mechanism.

Features

The key advantage is the ability to move the project to Polygon while continuing to operate in the Ethereum ecosystem, combining the strongest capabilities of both platforms. The throughput is 7,000 transactions per second, and validators confirm transactions, for which a modest fee is charged. This payment, given in MATIC tokens, keeps the entire platform running. As a result, the primary Ethereum network is not overburdened, and the applications that rely on it operate in Polygon. For this reason, Polygon is especially useful now when Ethereum is experiencing major scaling issues. 

According to Polygon’s white paper, there are 4 layers of its architecture. 

The first is Ethereum. It means that all Polygon and blockchain levels rely on its security and consensus.

The second is the Security Layer. This feature enables Polygon-based systems to use a network of validators that may check the authenticity of any of the system’s networks regularly in exchange for a reward.

The third is Polygon Networks Layer. This type permits any blockchains produced with the Polygon SDK to interact with one another.

The fourth is the Execution Layer is responsible for hosting smart contracts both within and between chains.

In conclusion, Polygon (previously also known as Matic Network) is an Ethereum blockchain branch designed to speed up applications and smart contracts. It allows developers to adapt their existing functional solutions to the Ethereum environment while preventing scaling challenges. Polygon’s architecture is so similar to Ethereum’s that the platform is now available to the world’s largest blockchain developer community. Polygon may now create highly scalable applications that benefit from Ethereum network effects.