Polygon (Matic) is a newer blockchain that was launched in March 2021. We at StableNode operate a Validator Node here and are pleased to give you an insight into the so-called “layer two” or “sidechain” blockchain.
The Polygon blockchain is created alongside the Ethereum blockchain, thus making Polygon a sidechain to Ethereum. The ticker for the Polygon token is MATIC.
In other words, Polygon utilizes the existing blockchain technology (the “mainnet”) created by Ethereum, but with much faster transactions and much lower gas consumption – and thus much lower fees for the ordinary user.
This is also why the Polygon sidechain is called a “scaling solution”, as developers and end users can use the blockchain technology of Ethereum without having to spend vast amounts of resources on gas (i.e. transaction fees).
As such, the Polygon technology was specifically designed to cater to the needs of developers and users looking for a low transaction fee alternative to Ethereum, but still with the inherent benefits of it.
Polygon was created by Mihailo Bjelic, Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, and Anurag Arjun. Originally, the project was branded as Matic Network when it was first launched in 2017. The project changed its name to Polygon in early 2021.
(Source: matic.network)
What is Polygon crypto used for?
There is a large spectrum of economic activities around NFTs, DeFi, and games and an increasing interest in using the Ethereum blockchain to mint NFTs, develop new DApps, execution of smart contracts, and so on. However, the gas fees related to these activities have likewise been on the rise.
Consequently, the gas fee for processing a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain (so-called ERC-20 transactions) has skyrocketed to an average cost of $46 in the beginning of 2022. This limits the availability of the blockchain to only the richest users.
To accomodate this trend of rising gas fees the Polygon sidechain was developed. Here, users won’t have to dig deep into their pockets in order to finance their transactions on the blockchain.
One of the reasons many people choose to use Ethereum are the many decentralized applications (DApps) that have been created on the blockchain. As Polygon is developed on the back of the Ethereum technology, all the important DApps are likewise available through Polygon – just with vastly reduced gas fees.
Where do you buy Polygon crypto (MATIC)?
The native token of Polygon is MATIC. You can purchase MATIC through most of the major crypto exchanges; both centralized and decentralized.
In March 2022, 77 cryptocurrency exchanges supported MATIC according to Coinraking. These exchanges include:
Binance
Coinbase Pro
Upbit
Kucoin
FTX
Huobi Global
Conclusion
In recent history, Polygon is one of the most ambitious projects in the space and one with high growth potential. The biggest advantages of Polygon are clearly the reduced gas price for processing transactions.
A key feature of Polygon is also the element of scalability built into the system. Using a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus system, the Polygon blockchain allows for much less resource-heavy validations of new transactions added to the blockchain.
The classic method of validation, the Proof-of-Work (PoW), requires a lot more energy to process, as PoW requires individual “miners” to verify transactions. This verification is like solving a puzzle; and miners all flock to be the first validator in order to cash in on the rewards from doing so.
With a PoS system, the validation process is split between different validators. This means no one person will “solve the same puzzle”, which is a much more efficient way to spend resources, but with the same end result; adding validated transactions to the blockchain.
Currently there is a high incidence of competing solutions trying to offer the same energy-reduced solution. However, Polygon has seen a rapid increase of interest in the general public and at the enterprise level over the last couple of years since its invention.
The coming upgrade of Ethereum to Ethereum 2.0 could also possibly challenge the popularity of Polygon. That being said, Polygon is extremely efficient and offers a crucial alternative to Ethereum.