What is Polygon?

Polygon is a decentralised Ethereum scaling platform that seeks to enable developers to build secure, scalable, user-friendly DApps with low transaction fees. The project offers several Ethereum scaling solutions, the core component of which is Polygon SDK, a modular, flexible framework that supports the development of many types of decentralised apps.

A brief history of Polygon

Polygon was launched in October 2017 under its previous name Matic Network, which remains the brand that is used for its token (MATIC). Polygon’s team contributed greatly to the Ethereum ecosystem, with solutions such as Plasma MVP, the WalletConnect protocol, and the widely-used Dagger event notification engine on Ethereum. It has since moved into its own blockchain network in 2019.

How Polygon works

Polygon describes its platform as a Layer 2 scaling solution that reduces the complexity of scaling blockchain solutions and facilitates faster blockchain transactions. Using a custom version of the Plasma framework that is built on proof of stake (PoS) checkpoints on the main Ethereum blockchain, Polygon allows each sidechain on its network to achieve up to 65,536 transactions per block. The sidechains created on Polygon are designed to support DeFI (decentralised finance) protocols on Ethereum.

What is Polygon used for?

MATIC, the cryptocurrency of the Polygon network, is mainly used to secure its proof of stake network through several validators, which receive additional MATIC tokens as a reward for staking their tokens.