What is Polygon?

Polygon is a proof-of-stake blockchain, which is a way of validating transactions. Polygon runs alongside the Ethereum blockchain as a sidechain, and uses bridges between the two chains so assets can be transferred back and forth. It's designed to process transactions more quickly and cheaply than Ethereum. Polygon can potentially process up to 65,000 transactions per second with low network fees, also known as gas fees.

Polygon was designed to help Ethereum scale. Polygon transactions don't clog up the Ethereum blockchain—transactions can be processed on Polygon's sidechain and are then communicated to Ethereum.

Polygon supports ERC-20 tokens as well as its native coin, MATIC—which gets its name because Polygon was originally called the Matic network. In 2021, when Matic rebranded to Polygon, it kept the same ticker: MATIC.

ERC-20 is a set of common standards for Ethereum tokens. Think of the standard like traffic laws: if everyone understands and sticks to the same rules of the road, then many different cars and bicycles can safely use the street. Implementing these standards ensures that tokens can interoperate with each other on the Ethereum network.

Because native MATIC on the Polygon network is not ERC-20 compatible, it needs to be wrapped to follow the ERC-20 standards so it can be used in various decentralized applications (dapps). Wrapping a token essentially means swapping a token like MATIC for another token in an equal amount (WMATIC) via a smart contract (a code on the blockchain that can store and send funds). Think of it like exchanging a dollar bill for four quarters. While they both represent the same value, quarters are compatible with a pinball machine while the dollar bill isn’t.

• Speed: Compared to Ethereum, Polygon is extremely fast.
• Cost-efficiency: Polygon’s network fees are often a fraction of those on Ethereum.
• Dapps: Developers can leverage the Polygon framework to build a variety of dapps.
• Environmentally friendly: Proof-of-stake blockchains like Polygon are generally more eco-friendly than proof-of-work blockchains. That’s because proof-of-stake uses validators instead of miners to add new blocks to the chain, which require far less computing power and energy.