summary: Polygon is a Layer 2 scaling solution that achieves scale by utilizing sidechains for off-chain computation.
content: Polygon is the leading Ethereum scaling solution. It was founded by Sandeep Nailwal, Jaynti Kanani, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic. Polygon has achieved scale by utilizing sidechains for off-chain computation while ensuring asset security using the Plasma framework and a decentralized network of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) validators. As of August 2022, more than 37,000 dapps already use Polygon architecture. In February 2022, Polygon raised about $450 million through a private sale of its native MATIC token in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital India. In June 2022, Polygon was chosen by Disney to participate in the 2022 Disney Accelerator, a business development program designed to accelerate the growth of innovative companies from around the world. 2022 Disney Accelerator class is focused on building the future of immersive experiences and specializes in technologies such as augmented reality (AR), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and artificial intelligence (AI) characters. Shortly after, the Polygon ream revealed zkEVM, the first EVM-equivalent of Layer 2 ZK (zero-knowledge). Overview Founded in 2017, Polygon (Previously Matic Network) is a protocol and a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. Polygon solves problems associated with blockchains, like high gas fees and slow speeds, without lowering security. Matic Network Initially, the platform was launched as Matic Network in 2017 with a vision to help create a better, open world, primarily by improving Ethereum infrastructure. During three years, the team has implemented and offered Matic Plasma Chains, a production-ready Ethereum Layer 2. They also implemented and offered Matic PoS Chain, a permissionless, EVM-compatible, PoS-secured Ethereum sidechain that relies on Ethereum security for validator staking and checkpoints. During these years, Matic onboarded more than 80 applications, including Polymarket, Aavegotchi, Neon District, SkyWeaver, Cometh, EasyFi with more being added. Polygon In February 2021, Matic Network revealed it became Polygon, the first well-structured, easy-to-use platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Polygon differs from its predecessor in that its approach is now multi-faceted. Polygon seeks to transform Ethereum into a true multi-chain ecosystem that benefits from all kinds of Layer-2 scalability, not just the initial implementations provided by the Matic Network. Polygon presents a suite of solutions to Ethereum’s scalability crisis - hence the ‘poly’ portion of the project’s updated nomenclature. Polygon still deals primarily with sidechain connectivity and runs its main PoS chain as of April 2021, but it has plans to expand its toolbox to include other Layer-2 solutions like zkRollups and Optimistic Rollups, standalone sidechains, enterprise chains, shared security chains, as well as interchain communication protocols. As such, Polygon describes itself as a Swiss Army knife of Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. In May 2021, blockchain data for Polygon arrived on the Google Cloud Platform. Integration with Google BigQuery enables developers to analyze on-chain data on Polygon in a more simple way. With the BigQuery support, Polygon's datasets have been listed in the Google Cloud Marketplace under the public financial services category. Potential benefits of the integration are said to include the monitoring of gas fees and smart contracts and determining the most popular tokens or applications on the network. In August 2022, more than 37,000 decentralized apps (dApps) have been built on Polygon, according to the most recent data from Alchemy, the world's leading Web3 development platform. That represents a fourfold increase since the beginning of 2022 and almost twice as many as there were in March 2022. Tech Polygon's architecture can best be defined as a four-layer system composed of the Ethereum layer, security layer, Polygon networks layer, and execution layer. The Ethereum layer is essentially a set of smart contracts which are implemented on Ethereum. These smart contracts handle things like transaction finality, staking, and communication between Ethereum and the various Polygon chains. The security layer runs side by side with Ethereum and provides a "validators as a service" role which allows chains to benefit from an additional layer of security. Both the Ethereum and Security layers are optional. Beyond this, there are two mandatory layers. The first is the Polygon networks layer, which is the ecosystem of blockchain networks built on Polygon. Each of these has its own community and is responsible for handling local consensus and producing blocks. The second is the Execution layer, which is Polygon's Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) implementation used for executing smart contracts. Polygon uses a variety of technologies to achieve this expanded vision, these include: POS Chain: Polygon's main chain is an Ethereum sidechain known as the Matic POS Chain, which adds a Proof-of-Stake (POS) security layer to blockchains launched on Polygon. Plasma Chains: Polygon makes use of a scaling technology known as Plasma to move assets between the root chain and child chains via Plasma bridges. ZK-rollups: An alternative scaling solution used to bundle a large number of transfers off-chain into a single transaction, using zero-knowledge proofs for the final public record on the Ethereum main chain. Optimistic rollups: A solution that runs on top of Ethereum to facilitate near-instant transactions through the use of "fraud proofs". Use Cases Payments The Polygon crypto platform is designed to allow decentralized applications (DApps) to speed up payments, enabling nearly instant payment settlement through a specialized application programming interface (API) and software development kit (SDK) integration. This process allows dApps, merchants, and users to instantly accept or pay in any type of cryptocurrency, though usually in ERC-20 tokens or Ethereum (ETH). This system is being rolled out in three distinct phases: 1. Ethereum (ETH) and ERC-20 token payments. 2. Cross-chain multi-asset token transfers and payments utilizing atomic swaps in partnership with liquidity providers. 3. Fiat-based payment system employing fiat liquidity providers. Lending Platform Polygon is building a mechanism to allow merchants to analyze the credit ratings of users who have signed up to use the platform by assessing their transaction history. This functionality is carried out in partnership with Dharma.io. The leading lending protocol Aave ($AAVE) has more than $1 billion liquidity locked on its Polygon markets with more than 8000 users. Games Polygon’s Layer-2 sidechain scaling solution stands to make blockchain-based gaming faster and perform better. Blockchain gaming lags behind traditional PC and console gaming systems because of poor transaction speed and high network latency. With Polygon’s Commit Chain scaling technology and the Ethereum network working together, developers and gamers will be able to build and play games more effectively. Polygon's ability to help grow the blockchain gaming industry could not come at a better time, as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and NFT marketplaces are driving the popularity of the blockchain and crypto industry at large, with many gamers buying, selling, and trading different types of in-game NFTs. Top gaming and NFT dapps like Aavegotchi, Neon District, Zed Run, and Cometh have scaled their user experiences with Polygon. Other Use Cases Polygon is also built for many other use cases, like helping realize the fast settlement times needed to allow decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to offer users faster and cheaper trading. QuickSwap, Dfyn, and ComethSwap are some of the Polygon DEXs that are witnessing high volumes and user activity. Protocols like Curve Finance and mStable have also ensured low cost and low slippage stablecoin swaps. Additionally, Polygon’s plasma scaling solution is able to expedite cross-chain atomic swaps of tokenized and non-tokenized assets. Most dApps need a way to sign transactions without submitting private keys due to user privacy concerns. Because of its scalability enhancements, Polygon helps enable an open identity framework for dApp design and use. MATIC Token Although Polygon has dramatically expanded on the vision laid out by Matic Network, it still uses the same utility token, known as MATIC. MATIC is an ERC-20 token running on the Ethereum blockchain. The tokens are used for payment services on Polygon and as a settlement currency between users who operate within the Polygon ecosystem. At its initial private sale in 2017, 3.8 percent of MATIC's max supply was issued. In the April 2019 launchpad sale, another 19 percent of the total supply was sold at $0.00263 per token to generate $5 million. The remaining MATIC tokens are distributed as follows: Team tokens: 16 percent of the total supply. Advisors tokens: 4 percent of the total supply. Network Operations tokens: 12 percent of the total supply. Foundation tokens: 21.86 percent of the total supply. Ecosystem tokens: 23.33 percent of the total supply. According to the release schedule, all the tokens will be released by December 2022. Matic Wallet MATIC can be stored in the Matic Wallet, instantly giving holders the option to stake their tokens and manage their own investments directly. Matic Wallet is designed using Polygon’s MoreVP technology as an easy-to-use solution for MATIC token holders to securely and simply manage their crypto finances. The wallet is to integrate with WalletConn