What is Polygon (POL)?

Polygon (POL) is a multi-chain Layer-2 blockchain platform that aims to solve the scalability problems of the Ethereum network. Initially known as Matic Network, this project emerged in 2017 as a solution to the high transaction fees and slow speeds on Ethereum. Polygon's goal is to process transactions on sidechains outside of Ethereum, thus offering lower gas fees and higher transaction speeds. This approach allows the Polygon network to leverage Ethereum's security and ecosystem advantages while providing an environment where users can conduct transactions much faster and cheaper. This is one of the reasons for its rapid popularity within the Ethereum community. The Polygon network is currently used in a wide range of applications, from DeFi protocols to NFT platforms and large enterprise projects, and has gained a significant place in the crypto world.

Let's explore questions like what Polygon is, what POL coin is, what Polygon coin does, and explore the Polygon ecosystem projects together.

Definition and Origins of Polygon

Polygon is a scaling solution developed for Ethereum. At its core is the Plasma infrastructure and a Proof-of-Stake (PoS)-based sidechain. This means it receives transactions from Ethereum, processes them much faster and more cheaply on its own sidechain, and connects the results back to the main Ethereum chain. This allows it to benefit from Ethereum's security while offering users low transaction fees and rapid confirmation.

Over time, it evolved from a single sidechain to a multi-chain ecosystem supporting diverse scaling solutions. Today, Plasma chains, sidechains, and recently developed Zero-Knowledge Rollup technologies are all part of the same ecosystem. Thanks to this diversity, Polygon offers flexible solutions that can adapt to the needs of different projects, making its vision of becoming "the Internet of Ethereum" increasingly visible.

The project was initially founded in 2017 as an India-based startup called Matic Network. The founding team consisted of four blockchain veterans: Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic. This team came together with the vision of providing a solution to the scalability and usability issues facing Ethereum. Prior to the project, Jaynti Kanani and Sandeep Nailwal had a deep understanding of Ethereum's technical limitations thanks to their experience in the Ethereum developer community. Their goal in designing Polygon was to improve the user experience while maintaining Ethereum's security and decentralized structure, while also providing a scalable Web3 infrastructure for developers. Launched under the name Matic Network, the project launched the MATIC token in an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) on Binance in 2019 and successfully launched its mainnet on Ethereum in May 2020. Initially operated by the Matic Foundation, network validators were gradually transferred to third-party validators throughout 2020, increasing the network's decentralization.

In February 2021, the project rebranded itself as Polygon as part of its vision to expand its scaling solutions. The transition from Matic Network to Polygon signified the project's expansion. During this period, the Polygon team announced plans to build a platform that integrates different scaling technologies beyond its existing PoS sidechain. For example, in 2021, Polygon invested in zero-knowledge proof (ZK proof) technologies, acquiring the zk-rollup project Hermez and incorporating it into its own organization under the name Polygon Hermez. That same year, it acquired another ZK project, Mir Protocol (later known as Polygon Zero). These steps signaled Polygon’s long-term adoption of zkRollup technologies and its goal of creating a multi-chain ecosystem.

Polygon's History: Key Milestones

Some key milestones in the development of the Polygon (formerly Matic Network) project can be summarized as follows:

• 2017 - Establishment: The project was launched under the name Matic Network. Spearheaded in India by Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, and Anurag Arjun, the project aimed to address Ethereum's scalability and high fees. Fourth co-founder Mihailo Bjelic joined the team later, and the project gained international recognition.
• 2019 - Launch and Mainnet: Polygon launched in 2019. Matic Network's native cryptocurrency, MATIC coin, was launched. The project raised funds through an IEO on Binance Launchpad in April 2019 and launched its testnets later that year. The Polygon (Matic) mainnet was officially launched on Ethereum in May 2020. Initially, all validators on the network were controlled by the Matic Foundation, but throughout 2020, external validators were gradually incorporated, making the network more decentralized.
• February 2021 - Transformation to Polygon: The project name was changed to Polygon. This rebranding announced Polygon's vision of expanding beyond its existing PoS sidechain solution to become a platform supporting multiple scaling solutions (Plasma, Optimistic Rollup, zkRollup, etc.). During this period, Polygon began working to enable developers to utilize different scaling tools based on their needs, without being limited to a single sidechain. With the name change, the Matic name remained for the token, but Polygon became the network's brand identity.
• 2021 - Bull season and price peak: Usage on the Polygon network exploded during the cryptocurrency bull market of 2021. Driven by intense interest in the DeFi and NFT spaces, the MATIC token price reached an all-time high by the end of the year. In December 2021, MATIC peaked at around $2.92. During this period, Polygon became a popular alternative for users looking to avoid the high fees on Ethereum. This success was also fueled by the integration of leading DeFi protocols like Aave, Curve, and SushiSwap into Polygon, and the number of users reaching millions. The POL coin price is trading at $0.21 as of September 2025.

• 2022 - Major partnerships and adoption: 2022 was a year of corporate partnerships for Polygon. Meta (Facebook) announced that it would integrate Polygon on its Instagram platform to allow users to mint NFTs. Reddit launched the Avatar NFT project, which has led to the creation of more than 3 million NFT wallets on Polygon. Starbucks announced that it would use Polygon to transform its loyalty program into an NFT-focused platform. Nike built its digital collectibles platform .Swoosh using Polygon's infrastructure. Also in 2022, Disney selected Polygon for its accelerator program and began working with it on potential Web3 projects. Many global brands and companies, including Adobe, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Prada, Stripe, and DraftKings, announced their collaboration with Polygon on Web3 and NFT strategies during this period. Thanks to these major partnerships, Polygon gained significant momentum in terms of mainstream adoption, and the value of the MATIC token saw periodic increases due to this news.
• March 2023 - Polygon zkEVM launches: The Polygon team launched its long-term zkEVM (Zero-Knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine) project in beta on the mainnet in March 2023. Polygon zkEVM is a zero-knowledge proof Layer-2 solution that offers the same smart contract capabilities as Ethereum, but bundles transactions into a zk-Rollup and sends them to Ethereum. This development is a significant milestone demonstrating Polygon's technological innovation. Thanks to zkEVM, Polygon not only allowed developers to run their applications as they do on Ethereum, but also achieved high security and scalability through zero-knowledge proofs. The March 2023 launch was announced with Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin making the first transaction, and it attracted significant attention from the crypto community.
• June 2023 - Polygon 2.0 and POL token: In mid-2023, Polygon Labs announced its Polygon 2.0 vision, a comprehensive plan to shape the future of the project. Polygon 2.0 included a series of upgrades aimed at bringing all Polygon protocols and networks together, providing interoperability and unified liquidity across different chains. Zero-knowledge technologies (ZK) were at the heart of this vision. As part of Polygon 2.0, the existing Polygon PoS chain was also planned to be updated with ZK technology (zkValidium), providing a tighter security connection to Ethereum. The new POL token was also introduced during this period. The Polygon team announced that the existing MATIC token would be replaced by the POL token, which will have a greater role and flexibility within the Polygon 2.0 ecosystem. The technical details and governance processes for the transition from MATIC to POL were shared with the community through development proposals (PIP-17, PIP-18, PIP-19) published in June 2023. With the community's acceptance of these proposals, the Polygon 2.0 roadmap officially began.
• October 2023 - POL token launch: Following preparations, the new POL token was launched on the Ethereum mainnet in October 2023. On this date, the Polygon team deployed the POL token contract on Ethereum, paving the way for the transition from MATIC to POL. At this stage, no changes were made to the active operation of the Polygon PoS or Polygon zkEVM networks; users continued to transact with MATIC. The POL token launch was the first step of the updates within the scope of Polygon 2.0, referred to as Phase 0. Subsequently, as the community and validators approve it, the POL token is planned to take over functions such as gas fees and staking within the Polygon ecosystem.
• September 2024 - MATIC to POL migration process: The native token migration officially launched on the Polygon network in the second half of 2024. Around September 4, 2024, Polygon Labs implemented a network update that automatically converted MATIC tokens to POL tokens. This migration occurred at a 1:1 ratio, meaning 1 MATIC in users' wallets was replaced by 1 POL. The migration process was designed to require no additional user action, and all MATIC balances on the Polygon PoS chain were updated to POL at the protocol level. After approximately a year of gradual migration, by September 2025, over 99% of MATIC tokens had been successfully converted to POL. POL now serves as the primary gas fee and staking token for the Polygon network. Because this transition was made with backward compatibility in mind, applications on the network continued without interruption.
• 2024-2025 - Polygon 2.0 developments: The Polygon team continued to work on technical innovations within the Polygon 2.0 roadmap throughout 2024. In August 2024, Polygon began announcing testing of an upgrade that will combine its existing PoS chain with zkEVM technology. In June 2024, Polygon introduced a massive treasury program built through community governance. This Community Treasury aims to provide grant support of up to 1 billion POL tokens to developers and projects over the next 10 years. In the first phase, 35 million MATIC (approximately $25 million) was allocated to this treasury, with plans to distribute approximately 100 million POL annually thereafter. This initiative was a significant step in supporting the growth of the Polygon ecosystem and stimulating new projects. By 2025, the Polygon network holds a prominent position in the blockchain world, driven by both its technical infrastructure transformation (zkEVM integration, cross-chain solutions like AggLayer) and its community-driven growth initiatives.

Why is Polygon Important?

The Polygon project's significant success and buzz stems from several features and advantages that make it unique and significant:

Ethereum's security and low fees

Polygon operates by processing transactions on its own sidechain or second layer and transmitting the results to the Ethereum main chain. This allows it to leverage Ethereum's robust security model while significantly reducing transaction costs for users. For example, while a transaction fee on Ethereum can sometimes reach tens of dollars, the same transaction can be processed on Polygon for very low fees, as low as a few cents. Furthermore, because transaction results are periodically recorded (checkpointed) on Ethereum, security is not compromised. In short, the Polygon network offers an experience "as secure as Ethereum, but much cheaper than Ethereum."

High scalability and user-friendly infrastructure

Polygon's infrastructure is designed to handle significantly more transactions per second (high TPS). Block confirmation times and transaction finality are significantly faster than Ethereum. This makes Polygon a standout in applications requiring high speed, such as games or real-time applications. Additionally, because Polygon is an EVM-compatible platform, it allows Ethereum developers to use familiar smart contracts and tools (Solidity, Remix, Metamask, etc.) with virtually no modifications. This developer-friendly architecture has enabled many projects to easily integrate with Polygon. As a result, users can seamlessly use the Polygon network with existing Ethereum tools without having to learn complex bridges or new wallets.

zkEVM and Innovative ZK Technologies

Polygon has become one of the pioneering projects that advanced scalability solutions, bringing Zero-Knowledge technologies to the forefront of the blockchain space. Launched in 2023, Polygon's zkEVM is significant as one of the first ZK-Rollup solutions to support all of Ethereum's smart contract capabilities. ZK-Rollups combine multiple transactions into a single proof and send it to Ethereum, both maintaining security and increasing efficiency. Thanks to Polygon zkEVM, developers have been able to migrate their dApps from Ethereum to Polygon's ZK environment without any compatibility issues. This technology plays a key role in establishing the balance between privacy and scalability in the blockchain world. Polygon's investment in zero-knowledge proofs has accelerated competition in this field and spurred other projects to adopt ZK solutions.

However, it's important to note that Polygon Labs has announced its decision to terminate the Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta in 2025. The company took this step due to technical challenges, development delays, and an inability to fully adapt to the needs of the ecosystem. The sequencer will continue to operate for the next 12 months, and users will be able to withdraw their funds at any time. Polygon has announced that it will provide grants and technical assistance to support projects transitioning to other solutions, such as Polygon PoS, during this period.

In short, the Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta will be completely closed next year.

Top choice for DeFi, NFT, and blockchains

Polygon's flexible and affordable infrastructure makes it a popular choice for DeFi, NFT, and enterprise blockchain solutions. On the DeFi side, many major protocols, including Aave, Curve, Balancer, and Uniswap, have launched on the Polygon network alongside the Ethereum mainnet. This has allowed users to use these protocols with significantly lower fees. The total value locked (TVL) on Polygon surpassed billions of dollars in 2021, making it one of the highest TVLs outside of Ethereum. In the NFT space, marketplaces like OpenSea have integrated Polygon, and users have begun enjoying inexpensive NFT issuances. Polygon's popularity, particularly for projects like Reddit's Avatar NFTs, has provided millions of new users with their first exposure to blockchain. Polygon is also a major player in the gaming industry; many blockchain-based games and metaverse projects (e.g., The Sandbox, some integrations of Decentraland, and games like Galaxy Fight Club) utilize Polygon's infrastructure for fast and inexpensive transactions.

Global brands choose Polygon for their Web3 strategies

Polygon, which has made a name for itself in mainstream media beyond the crypto world in recent years, has become the preferred platform for many major brands and companies in their Web3 initiatives. For example, Starbucks announced that it chose Polygon for its NFT-based loyalty program, Odyssey. Meta (Facebook) also used Polygon when integrating NFTs into its Instagram platform. Reddit leveraged Polygon to distribute digital collectibles to its millions of users. Nike launched digital sneakers and apparel NFTs on Polygon. Disney opened the door to potential collaborations by selecting Polygon for its accelerator program launched in 2022. Many industry leaders, including creative tech giants like Adobe, payment companies like Stripe, and telecom companies like Telefonica, are using the Polygon network for their Web3 products and services due to its speed, cost, and scalability advantages.

Who are the Founders of Polygon?

So, who are the founders of Polygon? The Polygon project is driven by a visionary founding team and a strong community. The founding team, as mentioned earlier, consists of Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic. Jaynti and Sandeep are well-known names in the blockchain development scene in India, while Mihailo Bjelic is a computer scientist who joined the project from Serbia. These four founders have succeeded in making Polygon a global project from day one. Jaynti Kanani's humble beginnings in Mumbai and Sandeep Nailwal's visionary work have led to Polygon being hailed as "the first major blockchain unicorn from India." The team, which began as a startup in 2017, has produced the youngest billionaires in the blockchain ecosystem, with Polygon gaining global recognition in 2021. Sandeep Nailwal's media coverage as "India's first crypto billionaire" demonstrates that the project has become a source of pride for the Indian technology sector. By bringing the best principles they learned from the Ethereum community (open source, transparency, decentralization) to Polygon, the founders were able to quickly build a solidly-founded product and a tightly knit community around it. Today, the team, operating under the name Polygon Labs, has recruited developers from around the world, and the project has grown beyond a handful of founders into a massive global organization.

The Polygon community plays just as much a role in the project's success as the founding team. A community-driven development model has been an approach Polygon has embraced from the very beginning. For example, in the early stages of the network, decisions regarding validator selection and network parameters were made through discussions in community forums. The Polygon team is striving to pioneer industry-leading decentralized governance. In late 2021, a formal Governance Team was established within the Polygon team, and the "Polygon DAO" vision was announced. The goal was to establish a governance infrastructure that would ultimately hand over the governance of Polygon products entirely to the community. As a first step, an initiative called the Polygon Ecosystem DAO was launched, and in September 2021, a Genesis Team comprised of volunteers from the community was selected. This team began managing a $1 million fund to fund projects within the Polygon ecosystem and grow it. Subsequently, more than 10 projects expressed their interest in contributing to the DAO and pledged financial support. This development was a significant step in Polygon's transition to a multi-stakeholder governance model. Polygon's governance processes are currently structured around proposals called PIPs (Polygon Improvement Proposals). In a publicly accessible forum, proposals regarding the future of the network are discussed and submitted to the vote of token holders. For example, the transition from MATIC to POL was submitted to the community for approval and agreed upon through consensus through PIPs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Below are some frequently asked questions and answers about Polygon:

• What is Polygon? When was Polygon coin released?: Polygon is a Layer-2 scaling platform developed for the Ethereum blockchain. Founded in 2017 as Matic Network, it launched its mainnet in 2019. Aiming to address Ethereum's high transaction fees and slowness, Polygon has now achieved a significant position in the blockchain ecosystem with its multi-chain structure.
• Who developed Polygon?: The founding team behind Polygon consists of Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic. The project was initially launched in India by these entrepreneurs, and the team has grown internationally over time. Each of the founders is experienced in blockchain technology and has brought their experience in the Ethereum community to the Polygon project, creating this successful ecosystem.
• What technology does Polygon use?: Polygon began by working with a combination of the Plasma framework and a Proof-of-Stake sidechain as a Layer-2 scaling solution. This means it processes and aggregates transactions outside of Ethereum and sends root hashes to the Ethereum main chain. Today, the Polygon ecosystem also includes zero-knowledge proof (ZK)-based technologies such as zkEVM. Specifically, Polygon's zkEVM provides a secure and scalable environment thanks to ZK-Rollup while running Ethereum-compatible smart contracts. In short, Polygon combines different technologies, including both the Plasma/PoS sidechain and ZK-Rollup.
• What does the POL token do?: The POL token is the native cryptocurrency of the Polygon network (previously, MATIC served this role). The POL token is used for purposes such as paying transaction fees on the network, staking to secure the network, and participating in community governance (voting in governance votes). For example, when you run a smart contract or make a transfer on the Polygon network, fees are paid in POL; validators also stake POL to secure the network and earn rewards in return.
• Is Polygon suitable for investment?: It's important to be careful when investing in cryptocurrency. Polygon (MATIC/POL) is a project that has attracted many investors thanks to its strong technical infrastructure, low fees, and widely adopted ecosystem. The project has gained value as its use case has expanded through DeFi and institutional partnerships. However, crypto markets are highly volatile, and Polygon has experienced significant price fluctuations in the past. Therefore, before investing in Polygon or any crypto asset, you should conduct your own research, review your risk tolerance, and seek advice from financial advisors if necessary.
• What are the use cases for Polygon?: The Polygon network has a wide range of use cases, from DeFi (Decentralized Finance) applications to NFT platforms, blockchain-based games, and even enterprise applications. For example, leading DeFi protocols like Aave and Uniswap operate on Polygon alongside Ethereum, offering users low-fee financial services. NFT marketplaces like OpenSea integrate Polygon, enabling cheap and fast NFT trading. Reddit has created millions of NFTs on Polygon for digital collectible avatars distributed to its users. Companies like Starbucks and Nike have built customer loyalty and digital collectible programs using Polygon's infrastructure.
• What is the difference between the MATIC token and POL?: The MATIC token is the original token of the Polygon network and was designed to have a fixed supply of 10 billion units. POL is the next-generation token introduced as part of Polygon 2.0, replacing MATIC. Starting in September 2023, all MATIC holders will be able to exchange their MATIC for POL at a 1:1 ratio.

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