What is Polygon (MATIC)? A Complete Guide
Polygon, formerly known as Matic Network, is a blockchain platform designed to solve the scalability and usability challenges facing the Ethereum network. It was founded in 2017 by Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic — all based in India — and has grown into one of the most widely used Layer 2 solutions in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
What Problem Does Polygon Solve?
Ethereum, while revolutionary, suffers from congestion during periods of high demand. This leads to slow transaction speeds and extremely high gas fees — sometimes costing users hundreds of dollars for a single transaction. Polygon addresses this by processing transactions on faster, cheaper sidechains before anchoring them to the Ethereum main chain, offering users speeds of under two seconds per block confirmation at a fraction of the cost.
How Does Polygon Work?
Polygon's most popular solution is the Polygon PoS (Proof of Stake) network. It is compatible with Ethereum's Virtual Machine (EVM), meaning developers can easily deploy Ethereum-based applications on Polygon with minimal code changes. Validators stake MATIC tokens to participate in network consensus and earn rewards.
Polygon also operates a zkEVM — a zero-knowledge rollup that provides even stronger security guarantees by mathematically proving transaction validity before submission to Ethereum. This technology represents the future of Ethereum scaling.
The MATIC Token
MATIC is the native token of the Polygon network. It is used to:
- Pay transaction fees on the Polygon network
- Stake to become a validator or delegator
- Participate in governance decisions
- Interact with decentralized applications (dApps)
The total supply of MATIC is capped at 10 billion tokens. As of 2024, the network began migrating from the MATIC token to a new token called POL, with MATIC holders able to convert at a 1:1 ratio.
Polygon's Rebrand Journey
The project launched as "Matic Network" and conducted its IEO on Binance Launchpad in April 2019. In February 2021, it rebranded to "Polygon" to reflect its broader ambition of creating an interconnected suite of blockchain scaling solutions. Despite the rebrand, the token retained the MATIC ticker until the 2024 migration to POL.
Wallets That Support MATIC
Popular wallets for storing and using MATIC include MetaMask (browser/mobile), Trust Wallet, Ledger Nano X, Trezor, and Coinbase Wallet. MATIC can be purchased on major exchanges including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Crypto.com.
