What Is Polygon (MATIC)?

What Is Polygon (MATIC)?

Polygon (MATIC) – effective L2 solution, but how did it come to this point? Over the years, Ethereum has brought all kinds of advancements into the cryptocurrency space, including smart contracts and high-interest paying decentralized applications. However, it faces three significant challenges - low throughput, high transaction fees, and limited options for developers. But, what if there was another blockchain that leveraged Ethereum’s technology while also offering higher throughput and lower transaction fees?

With this idea in mind, three Indian developers came up with an excellent solution that is widely known as Polygon. So, here is the question - what is Polygon?

What is Polygon (MATIC)?

Polygon is a scaling solution with several tools that increase throughput and reduce the cost and  complexity of transactions. It is a Layer 2 (L2) network (this term will be explained later in this article), and it works as an additional layer to Ethereum that does not change the original blockchain structure. Like a polygon (a term from geometry), the platform has many sides, shapes, and applications.

At the very beginning, Polygon was intended to be a simple scaling solution. However, it has evolved into a broader and more complex ecosystem where users and developers have a wide range of use cases, including running Ethereum-compatible blockchains, using Ethereum-based decentralized applications (DApps), and non-interchangeable applications. In addition, Polygon offers its users to use of its cryptocurrency - MATIC. And it is logical that after answering the question of what is Polygon, it is necessary to give a definition to its token.

What is MATIC?

The platform has its service cryptocurrency MATIC. It first went public in 2019. Then, during IEO - Initial Exchange Offering, the company sold 3.2 billion tokens, which is about 32% of the total supply.

To continue explaining the definition of Polygon (MATIC), it is worth noting that it is a Proof of Stake (PoS) cryptocurrency. It means that coin holders receive income calculated based on their staked amount. Those who store tokens on a wallet connected to the network participate in confirming transactions on the network. In other words, MATIC cryptocurrency mining (Proof of Work, like Bitcoin) is not possible - it is not used as a network maintenance mechanism.

The explanation of the L2-scaling solution

The L2 solution is a blockchain that runs in parallel with the core network. In the case of Polygon, the parallel core network is Ethereum, a decentralized blockchain with the functionality of smart contracts, which processes transactions beyond the main network, resulting in better transaction speed and lower fees.

To put it simply, what layer-2 does is building a communication channel between these blockchain networks and sending transaction data from the main network to the parallel blockchain. A sequence of blocks, or units of digital information, is stored sequentially in a public database. It is a framework for crypto to execute a transaction at a fraction of its cost and at a much higher speed, all without affecting the underlying Ethereum network.

As we know, Ethereum is the main ecosystem for most software developers who want to run their dApps. A decentralized application is a computer application based on blockchain technology and a mechanism for the distributed execution of the necessary instructions. (decentralized applications), thanks to its extensive and secure infrastructure and innovative tools.

How does Polygon work?

The architecture of Polygon can best be explained as a four-layer system. It consists of:

  • the Ethereum layer;
  • the security layer;
  • the Polygon layer;
  • the execution layer.

The first layer (Ethereum) is a set of smart contracts, which are implemented in Ethereum. These contracts manage transaction completion, rate allocation, and communication between chains (Polygon-Ethereum).

The security layer works side by side with the first layer and plays a “validators-as-a-service” role. This allows the chains to take advantage of an additional security layer. Both layers (Ethereum and security) are optional.

In addition to this, the next two layers are mandatory. The first one is the Polygon layer, and the second is the execution, Polygon's implementation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) used to execute smart contracts.

Chains running on Polygon are capable of interacting with each other and with the main Ethereum chain, with the help of arbitrary messaging capabilities of Polygon. It will enable many new use cases, such as interoperable decentralized applications (dApps) and easy value exchange between different platforms.

Advantages and disadvantages of Polygon

There is nothing perfect in this world, and everything has its advantages and disadvantages. And Polygon is not an exception. Below, you will see what strengths and weaknesses Polygon has.

Strong sides:

  • Polygon has a high degree of security through regular audits that ensure consistency throughout the transactions’ life cycle.
  • Its token MATIC successfully uses features such as Plasma, zero-knowledge (zk) rollups, and PoS that its competitors have not been able to implement.
  • Polygon is easily customizable and allows experienced developers to build Ethereum-based applications using the language of their choice.
  • Polygon’s network currently hosts over 3,000 decentralized applications (dApps) that take advantage of the lower transaction fees (10,000 times lower compared to Ethereum).
  • Thanks to its decentralized approach, it allows a thousand times more transactions (72,000 transactions per second).

Weak sides:

  • High level of competition in this market segment. Blockchain engineers have created many similar solutions, such as the Lighting Network.

How much does MATIC cost?

When MATIC cryptocurrency first started trading, its value was $0.0026. Until January 2021, its price did not change significantly. In any case, there was no explosive growth. For example, in December 2019, the token rose to $0.0416, but that was a temporary phenomenon.

That all changed at the beginning of 2021. On January 1, the token’s price was $0.0178, and just ten weeks later, the price of the MATIC crypto coin was up almost 2,300% more. By March 13, the coin was trading at $0.42. A correction followed this, but even that did not stop the token - by the end of April, the rate of MATIC cryptocurrency reached $0.79.

MATIC crossed the dollar milestone on May 9. Traders wondered what to expect from MATIC, but the answer came quickly enough - in nine days, the cryptocurrency doubled its value and reached $2.4544. If we compare this rate with the beginning of the year, it turns out that MATIC demonstrated 10,500% growth.

However, the records were soon replaced by a correction. The cryptocurrency traded below the dollar mark in mid-July and reached $0.67. However, by the end of the month, MATIC broke through the dollar level again, below which it did not go down.

And at the end of October, during the altcoin season, the cryptocurrency came close to the record values. On October 29, 2021, it was trading at $2.12. After that, the value of MATIC went down again. However, the coin renewed its historical high and traded at $2.92 in December 2021.

By the moment of writing this article (June 8, 2022), the exchange rate of MATIC was $0.62.

How many Polygon coins are there?

On June 13, 2022, the total market cap of Polygon reached the point of $3.42 billion, and there are 7.96 billion coins of MATIC in supply.

How can I buy MATIC?

Many users are struggling with a question - where and how to buy MATIC? And to do this, you need to go through five simple and straightforward steps that help you accomplish this goal:

  • #1 Step. First and foremost, you need to find a reliable exchange service that allows you to make this operation. With the help of Utorg, you can do this.
  • #2 Step. On the website, you need to specify how much MATIC you would like to buy. And the great news, you do not have to pay any service fee.
  • #3 Step. You will be asked to pass a one-time KYC procedure to ensure that it is your actual identity so that you process the financial exchange operation. Usually, this process is complicated and takes much time. However, Utorg allows you to make it within 3 minutes and without real people involved (Artificial Intelligence is in charge), which may cause longer waiting times. The system may request you to go through the verification process later. It depends on the chosen payment method.
  • #4 Step. After completing the verification procedure (or before), it is necessary to select the most suitable payment method you want to use to make a payment. At Utorg, you can use over ten of the most popular payment solutions (including bank card, ApplePay and GooglePay) to buy MATIC or another crypto.
  • #5 Step. The indicated number of coins will be credited to your crypto wallet when the financial operation has met success.

In general, purchasing MATIC takes around five minutes, and the KYC verification is included at this time.

Future of Polygon (MATIC)

CoinQuora gives an optimistic forecast for the price of MATIC. Analysts believe the crypto will reach a new all-time high this year. MATIC may break through a recovery level in the $2.72 range in the near future. And if everything goes well, the token may be trading at $7.5 (in 2023).

Trading Beasts does not expect a boom in 2023. Analysts are predicting a rise in MATIC's price and consider the cryptocurrency a good investment. According to the forecast, the maximum price in 2023 will be $1.08, the floor will be $0.59, and the average price will be $0.78.

Investor Wallets holds almost the same opinion but has a more positive forecast in terms of the maximum price. The analysts think MATIC is suitable for long-term investing (1 year). The average price by the end of 2023 will be $0.87, the minimum - $0.13, and the maximum - $1.67.

Conclusion

Polygon is one of the most exciting existing DeFi projects with a promising future for the DeFi community in terms of scalability and blockchain interoperability.

With an extensive set of developer tools, an innovative engine and modules, and full support for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), we could soon see a massive influx of projects thriving in the Polygon ecosystem.