POL (ex-MATIC)

What Is POL (ex-MATIC)?

POL is the native cryptocurrency of the Polygon ecosystem, a network of Ethereum-scaling technologies that has evolved from a single sidechain into a family of interconnected blockchains. Polygon (previously Matic Network) is a protocol and a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. The token trades under the symbol POL and is tracked on CoinGecko under the id “polygon-ecosystem-token,” reflecting its 2024 rebrand from the original MATIC token. At current market data, POL has a market capitalization of approximately $1,035,689,297, ranking it #71 among all cryptocurrencies, with a price near $0.0967 and 24-hour trading volume around $45,125,488.

The problem Polygon set out to solve is the same one that has challenged Ethereum since its rise to prominence: as more users and applications compete for block space on the main chain, transaction fees spike and confirmation times slow down. Polygon (MATIC) stands out as a preferred choice as a layer-2 scaling solution, formerly known as the Matic network, an India-based blockchain platform that came up with a way to surmount the main challenges faced by the network for decentralized apps: Ethereum. Polygon seeks to make Ethereum expand in size and efficiency, since many developers willing to build on Ethereum were scared away by network clogging issues and high transaction fees. The efficiency gains can be dramatic: storing 1,000 characters of encrypted text costs approximately $1.70 on Ethereum, compared to just $0.0032 on Polygon—a reduction of over 99.8%.

History and Founders

Founded in 2017, Polygon (also called Matic network) is a protocol and a framework for constructing and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks. The organization was founded by Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Anurag Arjun, and Mihailo Bjelic. The India-based platform is an open-source project built by an international, decentralized team of contributors. Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder and former chief operating officer, had previously served as CEO of Scopeweaver and chief technology officer at Welspun before helping start Matic. Anurag Arjun, the project’s only non-technical co-founder, had earlier product-management stints at companies including IRIS Business, SNL Financial, Dexter Consultancy, and Cognizant Technologies.

The project’s technical evolution unfolded in distinct phases. In its early stage from 2017 to 2019, Matic Network was born as a single Layer-2 solution that adopted the Plasma framework. As the project evolved, Matic Network expanded its scope from a single Layer-2 solution to a “network of networks,” eventually changing its name to Polygon in February 2021. In its current stage since 2021, Polygon’s mature product has been Polygon PoS, while the team has increasingly focused on rollup-based solutions for the future. Before pivoting to their own network, the founding team was already active in the Ethereum ecosystem: earlier than moving to its own network in 2019, the team became a significant contributor to Ethereum, working on implementing the Plasma MVP, the WalletConnect protocol, and the widely-used Dagger event notification engine.

How the Technology Works

Polygon PoS and the Sidechain Model

Polygon PoS is an extension solution of Ethereum that achieves fast transaction speed and low-cost fees by leveraging sidechains for transaction processing, using Plasma as a secure bridging framework and PoS validators to guarantee the security of on-chain assets. Polygon is a Layer-2 solution that aims to address the scalability and usability issues of the Ethereum blockchain while ensuring the benefits of decentralization and security, providing a platform for faster and cheaper transactions without compromising on core blockchain principles. The validator infrastructure is deliberately layered for security: a Layer-2 solution may include validators used to validate and add new transactions to the blockchain, each of which includes a validator node responsible for producing blocks and participating in consensus, and a sentry node that communicates with the public network, acting as a firewall so validator nodes are not directly exposed to potential attackers.

Zero-Knowledge Rollups and the AggLayer

Beyond the original PoS sidechain, Polygon has invested heavily in zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup technology, which cryptographically proves the validity of transactions before settling them on Ethereum. This has led to the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK), which lets developers spin up their own ZK-powered chains, and the AggLayer, a coordination layer designed to unify liquidity and enable near-instant interoperability across these chains without forcing users through slow, risky bridges. This shift mirrors the network’s own stated roadmap: it began as a single sidechain but was always intended to grow into a broader, interconnected set of scaling technologies rather than one monolithic chain.

From MATIC to POL

In 2024, Polygon Labs migrated the network’s native asset from MATIC to POL as part of a broader “Polygon 2.0” redesign. The stated goal of the new token is to function as a multi-chain staking asset: validators can stake POL to help secure not just the original Polygon PoS chain but potentially many CDK-based chains connected through the AggLayer, earning rewards and fees from each network they help validate. This design is meant to let a single token coordinate security and incentives across an expanding family of chains, rather than each new chain needing to bootstrap its own independent validator set and token.

Tokenomics and Supply

POL is an ERC-20-style token on Ethereum that is also natively used across the Polygon PoS chain and its associated networks. It inherited its supply base directly from MATIC on a roughly one-to-one basis during the 2024 migration, so long-time holders of the older token were entitled to convert their balances into POL. Beyond the base supply, the token’s design allows for a capped annual issuance that is distributed to validators and to ecosystem/community treasuries as a reward for securing the network and funding continued development — a mechanism intended to keep the network well-resourced as it scales into a multi-chain architecture rather than a single chain. As with any actively developed protocol, holders and prospective users should consult Polygon’s own technical documentation for the most current, authoritative emission and unlock schedules.

Notable Milestones and Controversies

Polygon’s rise was closely tied to the 2021 boom in NFTs and blockchain gaming, when its low fees made it a popular home for mints and marketplaces. The native token benefited from Polygon’s NFT platform integrating recognizable brands such as Starbucks, Instagram, and Reddit, with Polygon’s NFT sales at one point rising by 191% and the token’s price climbing accordingly. That same period brought reputational friction, too: National Geographic drew considerable criticism from the crypto community after launching its first NFT collection in partnership with Snowcrash on the Polygon network, unveiled on January 17.

Polygon has also faced the recurring criticisms leveled at most high-throughput sidechains and Layer-2 networks: concerns over validator centralization relative to Ethereum’s own base layer, the security assumptions of bridging assets between chains, and the complexity of migrating a large existing token (MATIC) and its holders to a new one (POL) without disruption. Because Polygon’s PoS chain relies on a bridge and a smaller validator set than Ethereum mainnet, security researchers have historically flagged bridge contracts as a higher-risk component of the stack, a criticism common to nearly all sidechain and rollup designs that must balance speed, cost, and decentralization.