What is Polygon (MATIC)? Features and Advantages

Polygon, which began as Matic Network in India in 2017, has grown rapidly in the last two years. According to Coinbase, one MATIC cost Rs.1.22 on the 30th of January 2020. It had reached an all-time high of Rs. 220 by December 2021. It's currently worth Rs. 122, which, while lower than its peak, represents a gain of nearly 4000 per cent over the previous year.

 

Understanding Polygon

 

Polygon, formerly known as the Matic Network, is a scaling solution that seeks to give several methods to boost the speed of transactions on blockchain networks while lowering the cost and complexity.

 

Polygon's goal is centred on Ethereum, a decentralized application platform that allows you to join virtual worlds, play games, buy art, and engage in a variety of financial activities. However, with so much activity on its blockchain, Ethereum has become nearly useless, since transmission costs are growing and traffic is being choked.

 

Then there's Polygon. Polygon bills itself as a layer-2 network, which means it works as an add-on layer to Ethereum that does not intend to alter the original blockchain layer. Polygon, like its geometric namesake, has numerous sides, forms, and applications, and it provides a more straightforward foundation for creating linked networks.

 

Polygon wants to see Ethereum grow in terms of scale, security, efficiency, and utility, as well as encourage developers to create more appealing products.

 

Jayanti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, and Anurag Arjun established Polygon in 2017. This exchange is part of the Binance Group, which ensures excellent service.

 

Polygon's MATIC cryptocurrency, which underpins the network, was kept after the renaming. MATIC is the payment and settlement unit for participants who engage inside the network. (Here)

 

About MATIC, Polygon's own cryptocurrency, is used to pay fees on the Polygon network, as well as for staking and governance (which means that MATIC holders get to vote on changes to Polygon). MATIC may also be purchased and sold on Coinbase and other exchanges.

 

MATIC was given to Polygon at an earlier point in its development. Developers renamed it Polygon in early 2021 after debuting as Matic Network in October 2017 according to Decrypt.

 

Polygon’s Framework

 

Polygon architecture is made up of four distinct levels, each of which is responsible for a different set of functions and services.

 

• Ethereum layer

The Ethereum layer is made up of a collection of smart contracts that run on the Ethereum network. Staking, transaction finality, and communication between Polygon chains and Ethereum are all possible with them.

 

• Security layer

 

Along with Ethereum, there is a security layer. It performs the job of "validators-as-a-service," adding an extra layer of security to chains.

 

• Polygon networks layer

 

The networks layer is a Polygon-developed blockchain networks environment. Each has its own community, which is in charge of generating blocks and establishing local consensus.

 

• Execution layer

 

Polygon's Ethereum Virtual Machine implementation (EVM) for executing smart contracts serves as the execution layer.

---

 

Polygon architecture, Source

---

 

Due to Polygon's arbitrary message passing capability, Polygon chains can communicate both with the Ethereum main chain and with one another. It encourages a slew of new use cases, such as interoperable dApps and value transfer between platforms.

 

Also Read | Top Cryptocurrency Exchanges

 

Working of Polygon (MATIC)

 

Polygon's MATIC Sidechain works in the same way as other Proof-of-Stake blockchains. Except for the fact that exchanges are clustered and settled over the Ethereum mainchain, its structure, token, client nodes, local dapps, validator nodes, and other features are identical to those of other networks.

 

Fortunately, Polygon has developed a layer-2 network for creating Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks.

 

Off-chain scaling options are alluded to in Layer-2 scaling solutions. This involves reducing or removing components with evaluation power from the main blockchain before executing them elsewhere, such as on sidechains. This increases mainchain performance while also spreading assessing proficiency across the network.

 

Layer-2 solutions are gaining in popularity since they play an important part in the widespread acceptance of cryptographic money.

 

Polygon's modular architecture for creating unique networks allows developers to transmit pre-configured blockchain networks with a single click. Polygon also makes it simple for any blockchain to collaborate with another without any problems.

 

You may view the MATIC sidechain as a useful part of Ethereum's large universe, providing clients with widespread project execution and positive working experience. Any Ethereum-based decentralized software or Ethereum-viable blockchain may be transferred to the Matic Sidechain to run in a much better environment.

 

Clients that wish to interact with MATIC Sidechain-based decentralized apps must do the following:

 

• Verify the ostensibly delivered Predicate Contract on the Ethereum network, as well as the tokens to be distributed on the MATIC Sidechain.

 

• Tokens will be automatically stored on the MATIC Sidechain when the predicate contract is confirmed. In this cycle, the "RootChainManager" smart contract triggers the "ChildChainManager" smart contract, which produces the appropriate amount of bolted or stored tokens on the MATIC network.

 

• Clients who accept their tokens on the MATIC Sidechain can move them rapidly and cheaply within the network. This means that doing a decentralized trade on MATIC to give or exchange liquidity will cost the customer cents rather than hundreds of dollars.

 

To return the tokens to Ethereum, follow these steps:

 

• On the Matic sidechain, the tokens must be burnt.

 

• This burned exchange's verification must be provided to the Ethereum mainchain.

 

When this cycle is complete, the smart contract "RootChainManager" will return resources to the Ethereum mainchain for the client's location (wallet). (Here)

 

Features of Polygon

 

Some of its key features include:

 

• Availability: On Polygon sidechains, transactions are quick, low-cost, and safe, with finality on the mainchain and Ethereum as the first suitable Layer 1 base chain.

• High throughput: On the internal testnet, it was able to reach up to 7,000 TPS on a single sidechain. For horizontal scaling, many chains will be created.

• Customer experience: WalletConnect support; native mobile applications and SDK; and developer abstraction from mainchain to Polygon chain.

• Security: Operators of polygon chains are also stakers in the PoS system.

• Public sidechains: Unlike individual dApp chains, Matic sidechains are open to the public, permissionless, and capable of supporting numerous protocols.

 

Also Read | Most Stable Cryptocurrency in 2022)

 

Advantages of Polygon over other Cryptos

 

1. Polygon is one of the most fascinating blockchain initiatives, focusing on interoperability and scale, two of the technology's most widely cited difficulties. By providing an extensive set of tools for developers to design high-performance, high-scaling blockchain protocols and dApps, the network has already exceeded its initial aim for Matic.

 

2. Polygon is the first scaling solution that fully supports the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Ethereum's blockchain-based software that allows developers to construct decentralized applications (dApps). 

 

This makes Polygon accessible and simple to the Ethereum community, which is already used to construct smart contracts in Solidity, an object-oriented programming language. As a result, dApps created on the Polygon network will get the benefits of Ethereum's network effect while maintaining their high security.

 

3. Another distinguishing aspect of Polygon is that its security mechanism is optional, allowing blockchains to maintain their autonomy. As a result, without using Polygon's security-as-a-service approach, linked blockchains can have complete compatibility with the Ethereum mainchain.

 

4. Polygon's versatility is critical for developers who want to create fully interoperable dApps that take advantage of the benefits of numerous linked blockchains.

 

5. In current times of fast technological advancement, Polygon's well-rounded approach to scaling solutions can future-proof the network. Polygon does not risk becoming outdated since it provides different scaling techniques. This ensures that they do not become obsolete if one solution becomes the industry standard in the future.

 

MATIC's price movement reflects the importance of Polygon's scaling solutions, as the token soared during two significant crypto market declines this year. 

 

Despite Bitcoin's price drop pushing down the rest of the crypto market, MATIC was up 120 per cent in May. This is due to various DeFi protocols migrating to Polygon's Ethereum sidechain to escape excessive gas prices, which rose by over 845 per cent in a year on Ethereum, according to IntoTheBlock analysis.

 

In the end, the competition is on to be the first fully operational interoperability solution. 

 

Polygon's proof-of-stake chain and Plasma scalability solution are now operational, but developers will not be able to establish their own independent or shared security chains until these features are available. Similarly, neither ZK-rollups nor optimistic rollups have been implemented on the network, leaving Plasma as the sole scaling option.

 

Next Read | Best Blockchain Stocks For 2022