TokenCrash: Polygon Explained
The crypto token Polygon, formerly known as the Matic Network, is one of the most popular digital currencies out there and ranks among the Top #15 tokens in market capitalization. But what exactly is this coin that pulled in investors and enthusiasts alike?
Let’s take a closer look at what makes Polygon the currency it is today.
To begin with, the project started back in 2017 when three Indian Ethereum-developers stumbled across a major problem. Ethereum, the crypto token that has been desperately trying to scratch Bitcoin’s back for a long while now in hope of getting to the top, is rather flawed and inefficient. Despite being an immensely popular blockchain-based programming platform and the unrivaled second place in the crypto market, its transactions are painfully slow, regretfully expensive and a total headache for those who want to do more with their coins instead of holding them until the end of time.
‘Gas Fees’ is the term most investors curse in their heads.
Ethereum is annoying to use but most do it anyway. Its ever-rising popularity made one thing perfectly clear - the drawbacks need to be fixed. With that in mind, the ‘Matic Network’ was revealed to the world. A layer-2 solution and independent blockchain that sits on top of the Ethereum blockchain.
To put it simply, Polygon (Matic) is like the spoiled adopted child of the big fish known as Ethereum. It is Ethereum-native and is interoperable with their applications. With its rising popularity, the Matic Network expanded further and decided to rebrand itself as ‘Polygon’ in February 2021. The token ticker remained as MATIC, though.
But what exactly does Polygon do?
The whole purpose of the Polygon/Matic project is assembling interlinked blockchain networks, making the whole user experience more friendly and efficient. It is cheaper, faster and better. Polygon solves the areas where Ethereum activities are limited, making its usefulness clear. This is also why more and more investors and blockchain users prefer Polygon over other alternatives.
By using something known as the Polygon software development kit (SDK), the network builds Ethereum-compatible decentralized applications as sidechains through different scalability methods.
These include:
Plasma Chains: Bundles Transactions and Put them into a single submission on the Ethereum blockchain
zk-Rollups: Multiple Transfers are grouped into a single transaction
Optimistic Rollups: like Plasma Chains but also include Ethereum Smart Contracts
These different scalability methods are used to reduce costs, faster transactions and raised efficiency.
Polygon is a scalability platform and is widely used in decentralized applications and different blockchain projects. It has great value in the crypto market and investors and blockchain enthusiasts are excited for the future of this network that makes the world of DeFi, NFTs and more run smoother and better. However, it is also highly dependent on Ethereum as its main pillar, which might be questionable in case something happens to the other platform.
Yet, this is not evident to happen anytime soon and other solutions are likely to come up at that time. This makes Polygon a project to keep an eye on.
But, is it actually worth investing in? Well, that is a question that is up to you.
Resources:
https://www.kraken.com/en-us/learn/what-is-polygon-matic
https://www.blockchain-council.org/ethereum/what-is-polygon-matic-how-does-polygon-work/
