Polygon Network : Layer-2 Scaling For Ethereum

Today we have several cryptocurrencies available in the crypto world like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and Polkadot, to cite just a few popular ones.

The crypto marketplace has recently given us a new cryptocurrency known as Polygon. Despite being only a few years old, the currency is among the top twenty virtual currencies in market capitalization.
Polygon is still one of the most popular platforms accessible for scaling solutions today.

Not only that, but many currency experts say that, when compared to other prominent virtual currencies, Polygon is still an excellent investment, as the currency’s price is likely to rise in the long run. Let’s dig more into it and know what it is all about!

What is Polygon Network?

Polygon is a secondary Ethereum scaling solution. It is a layer-2 solution is a blockchain that runs in parallel to a mainnet but processes transactions outside of it, leading to higher transaction throughput and cheaper gas prices. 

Rather than creating their blockchain, these solutions build on top of an existing one. In this case, Polygon is built on Ethereum, which has gotten increasingly slow and expensive to use as it has grown in popularity. 

Polygon is a cryptocurrency formerly known as MATIC and a technology platform that connects and scales blockchain networks. It was introduced in 2019 to overcome Ethereum blockchain restrictions, including transaction speed, throughput, and gas prices.

While maintaining the security, interoperability, and structural benefits of the Ethereum blockchain, the Polygon platform can boost a blockchain project’s flexibility, scalability, and independence. 

Polygon’s native coins, MATIC, are Ethereum-based ERC-20 tokens. The tokens are a settlement currency between Polygon users and payment services on the platform. MATIC coins are also used to pay for transaction fees on Polygon sidechains.Polygon is a new blockchain technology that has recently emerged. But, first, let’s look at what history tells us.

History of Polygon

2017

In October of 2017, the MATIC network was launched. The cryptocurrency was co-founded by three individuals who saw an issue with Ethereum’s scalability: Jayanti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, and Anurag Arjun, and addressed blockchain scaling and usability concerns.

Plasma was at the edge of blockchain scaling in 2017, and Matic used a plasma-driven scaling strategy and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) sidechains to help Ethereum scale as user demand surged. As a result, Matic POS has evolved into a popular scaling choice for various applications. 

2019

In 2019, the Matic Network team contributed significantly to the Ethereum environment before launching their network. On Ethereum, the Polygon team developed the WalletConnect protocol, Plasma MVP, and the widely known Dagger event notification engine.

2021

Later, in February 2021, Matic relaunched as Polygon to become a Swiss Army knife for scaling solutions. Polygon intends to expand its Plasma/POS chain to include support for rollups and Validium. The initiative realizes that a single solution may not be able to scale independently. Polygon aspires to play a crucial role in giving the infrastructure needed to build any of these systems. There’s a chance that numerous solutions may coexist and help Ethereum scale collectively.

Roadmap

Polygon intends to expand its Plasma/POS chain to include support for roll-ups and Validium. 

Polygon is a solution meant to improve the speed and scalability of decentralized apps (dApps) on the Ethereum blockchain without compromising security or user experience.

Its utility gained it prominence.

Polygon has been labeled “Ethereum’s Internet of Blockchain,” and with good reason- as the protocol’s fundamental function is to connect Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks.

It solves Ethereum’s scalability problem by allowing decentralized programs to scale in under 30 minutes. In addition, Polygon is secure and offers enterprise-grade interoperability, modularity, and a simple approach for developers, thanks to Ethereum’s architecture.

The network’s goal is to make interacting with the blockchain environment as simple as possible. It accomplishes this goal by utilizing Plasma, a new technology that allows transactions to be completed more quickly and at a lower cost. 

The improvements have been the launch of Polygon Studio to facilitate the adoption of NFT. In addition, a series of events have backed up MATIC’s recent market performance. First, it has announced a strategic alliance with Wanchain to change the face of blockchain interoperability.

Polygon also collaborated with GameOn Entertainment Technologies Inc. on a strategic relationship to develop NFT-based games on its Ethereum-based scaling platform.

Polygon aspires to play a crucial role in giving the infrastructure needed to build any of these systems. As a result, there’s a chance that numerous solutions may coexist and help Ethereum scale collectively.

Recent Updates

Polygon can be used to generate Optimistic Rollup chains, ZK Rollup chains, stand-alone chains, and any other type of structure that the developer requires.

With Polygon, new capabilities are being developed on existing, proven technology to improve the developer ecosystem’s capacity to cater to a wide range of needs. In addition, Polygon will continue to develop the fundamental technology to expand its ecosystem.

The Heimdall node became inoperable due to the network outage, said the MATIC team. An update to 0.2.8 will be made to give a remedy to the problem, which will necessitate a hard fork.

The last block on the Blockchain before the interruption would be rebuilt as part of the latest update, and the new chain went live on March 20.

Upcoming Updates

The Polygon blockchain will soon see the much-anticipated implementation of the Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559, which will bring with it the burning of the native MATIC token as well as improved fee visibility.

Features of Polygon

The following are some of its most important features:

• Availability: Transactions on Polygon sidechains are fast, cheap, and secure, with finality on the mainchain and Ethereum as the first Layer 1 base chain.
• High Throughput: It attained up to 7,000 TPS on a single sidechain on the internal testnet. Many chains will be formed for horizontal scaling.
• Customer Experience: Support for WalletConnect, native mobile apps, SDK, and developer abstraction from the main chain to the Polygon chain.
• Security: Polygon chain operators are stakers in the PoS system.
• Public Sidechain: Matic sidechains, unlike individual dApp chains, are open to the public, permissionless, and capable of supporting a wide range of protocols.

How Does Polygon Work?

Polygon’s MATIC Sidechain works similar to Proof-of-Stake blockchains. 

Instead of depending on the traditional Proof of Work (PoW), which takes a tremendous amount of processing power to build new blocks, the platform uses the Proof of Stake consensus, which uses a network of node validators to verify and validate transactions blocks. 

The primary difference is that in PoS, token holders validate and verify transactions instead of having to do the work (computing labor in PoW methods).

Users are rewarded with MATIC, the protocol’s native token, in Polygon’s PoS environment. You have the option of earning MATIC in one of the following ways:

• Validators: By hosting a full node to validate transactions on the blockchain, you can become a validator and commit to the network. You get a portion of the fees and newly formed MATIC as a node validator. Your MATIC awards will be reduced as punishment if you act intentionally, make a mistake, or even if your internet connection is slow.
• Delegator: A delegator is a type of public node, which is a great way to start. You receive other people’s MATIC as a delegator and utilize it to assist the network in validating PoS. The delegator’s voting power grows in proportion to the size of the delegated stake. 

Nevertheless, Polygon has developed a layer-2 network for creating Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. Furthermore, layer-2 scaling methods mention off-chain scaling options.

This includes removing or decreasing evaluation power components from the main blockchain before executing them elsewhere, such as on sidechains.

This improves mainchain performance while simultaneously disseminating assessing expertise across the network. Layer-2 solutions are becoming more popular as they play an essential part in accepting cryptographic money.

Clients who accept their tokens on the MATIC Sidechain can move them within the network quickly and cheaply. Using a decentralized trade on MATIC to give or exchange liquidity will cost the client cents rather than hundreds of dollars.

Polygon’s Tokenomics

The MATIC tokens are released once a month, and have a current circulating quantity of 4,877,830,774 and a maximum supply of 10,000,000,000.

In 2017, 3.8% of MATIC’s maximum supply was sold in a private sale. Another 19 percent of the overall supply was sold at the April 2019 launchpad sale. The MATIC price was $0.00263 per token, and the total amount raised was $5 million.

The rest of them are divided into the following manner:

Polygon Bridge

The PoS bridge is the backbone for transferring assets from Ethereum to Polygon and then using those monies to interact with the Polygon ecosystem’s apps and blockchains. Of course, you’ll have to pay a transaction fee in ETH, which can be costly, but transactions on the Polygon network are inexpensive – less than $1.

How do you use the Polygon network?

Polygon Network can be used to connect your CryptoWallet.

1) Go to the configuration page.

2) Select Networks > Add Network from the drop-down menu.

3) Fill in the blanks with the necessary information:

Future of the Polygon

Polygon is a network solution designed to improve decentralized apps (dApps) on the Ethereum blockchain by making them faster and resolving scaling issues while maintaining security and user experience.

As a result, its utility, formerly known as the Matic Network, has grown in popularity.

Polygon could be the world’s first fully effective interoperability solution. But on the other hand, Polygon’s competitors are rushing to have their services up and running before Polygon.

Although parts of Polygon’s solutions, such as plasma scaling and the proof-of-stake chain, are now operational, blockchain developers are not permitted to introduce their distributed security chains on the platform until all of Polygon’s proposed solutions are operational.

Moreover, solutions such as optimistic and ZK-rollups have yet to be implemented on the network.

Matic had high gas fees and sluggish block confirmations back then, which detracted from the user experience. They needed to act quickly or risk being overshadowed by competing ventures.

As a result, they could fulfill this goal by developing Plasma, which speeds up transactions while lowering costs. MATIC could be a rewarding investment in 2021 and beyond. According to the company’s pricing predictions, MATIC tokens could reach $3.05 in 2021, $5.5 in 2025, and $9.41 in 2028.

Conclusion

Polygon MATIC is an excellent choice, especially if you want to avoid Ethereum’s hefty fees and poor performance. Polygon has demonstrated that it can overcome Ethereum’s issues, and as a result, it is gaining in favor with each passing day. Examining Polygon MATIC’s workings and potential reveals that this platform has made tremendous progress in addressing blockchain scaling issues.

You might even start your own decentralized network- using some of Polygon’s tools and features, this could be a simple and painless process. Furthermore, different blockchain developers can enjoy developing their decentralized networks because of the polygon platform’s given features and tools, which let developers customize their networks.

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