The hottest projects in the DeFi field in 2022 are undoubtedly Polygon and MATIC coins. MATIC coin is the token used to pay for services and settlements on Polygon, just like Ethereum (ETH) on the Ethereum chain. Since 2022, Polygon and MATIC coins have been booming, and the mainstream opinion in the blockchain community generally believes that MATIC coins have strong potential growth opportunities. This article will take investors to explain in detail the reasons behind it.
1. What is the purpose of Polygon?
Before understanding Polygon and MATIC, you need to first know the difficulties currently encountered by Ethereum, because this is closely related to the original intention of Polygon's creation.
When Ethereum was originally designed, it could only handle about 10 to 20 transactions per second. However, as the number of users increased and the transaction volume increased significantly, the system gradually became unable to load, causing serious delays in Ethereum transactions. Under the bidding principle, transaction fees also increased. Ethereum hopes to solve the problem of transaction speed and fees through ETH 2.0, but the entire upgrade process will take 3 to 4 years. During this period, many teams emerged trying to solve the dilemma of Ethereum, and Polygon was one of them.
Polygon’s founding purpose
Polygon was established to solve the following three major problems of Ethereum:
Low throughput: poor user experience, high fees and delayed transactions
No sovereignty (shared throughput, congestion risk, technology stack not customizable, governance dependency)
On the blockchain, many project parties are exploring blockchains that are compatible with Ethereum, that is, while mitigating the above restrictions, they can still use the flourishing ecosystem of Ethereum. Different protocols and projects have their own advantages, but most project parties have not built a blockchain system, nor do they have protocols that can connect each other.
Polygon is trying to build a blockchain framework that also allows different protocols to communicate with each other, thereby solving the problems faced by Ethereum. Therefore, Polygon can be directly regarded as an expansion and integration solution for Ethereum. Not only is it not an "Ethereum killer", but it is also an "Ethereum helper".
The main development intention of Polygon is to solve problems related to blockchain scalability. Although after the emergence of Ethereum, the overall application level of blockchain has been significantly improved, such as the emergence of new projects such as DeFi and GameFi, which has naturally attracted a large number of new users to enter the blockchain field.
However, as a long-standing public chain, Ethereum has always had problems with poor efficiency. This is actually not difficult to understand. If investors regard Ethereum as a highway and the data on the chain as traffic flow, then when new projects appear, the traffic that needs to be processed on the chain will naturally become higher (traffic flow). (increased), but since there is only one expressway, traffic congestion problems arise.
The main purpose of Polygon's birth is to help Ethereum solve the congestion problem on the chain. Therefore, Polygon is fundamentally different from other cryptocurrencies in terms of design purpose. That is, the purpose of Polygon is not to replace Ethereum and become a new public chain. Instead, Polygon hopes to become a side chain of Ethereum. This is why Polygon It has the reputation of "Ethereum Helper".
2. What are the uses of Polygon and MATIC coins?
Purpose of Polygon chain
Reduce the burden on the Ethereum main chain: The main purpose of Polygon is to reduce the burden on the Ethereum main chain. As a side chain of Ethereum, some transactions and smart contract calculations can be placed on the side chain, and then returned to the main chain after calculation, greatly reducing the burden on the Ethereum main chain.
Provide lower transaction fees: Another major use of Polygon is to improve user experience. Ethereum's handling fees are very expensive and cannot be afforded by ordinary users, and the speed is also very slow. Polygon's high performance, low fees and speed can solve the problems of ordinary users.
Token Purpose of Matic Coin
As the transaction fee of Polygon: As the native token of the Polygon blockchain, Matic currency is the transaction fee required for all operations on the chain. The fee for each transaction is only about the equivalent of MATIC of about $0.01-0.02 US dollars. Tokens are much cheaper than on the main chain.
Staking to Polygon to ensure security: Validators and delegators can stake their own MATIC coins to protect the smooth operation of the network through staking smart contracts, which are used to reach consensus and ensure the security of the network.
3. What other special independent innovations does Polygon have?
Polygon is a Layer 2-based aggregator that makes all scaling solutions easily compatible with Ethereum and supports more features.
Layer 2 solution: Layer 2 solution provided by Polygon:
It can be said that Polygon is a modular and highly flexible blockchain framework. According to the demander's own needs, Polygon can support the following two main solutions:
Stand-alone chains: Polygon stand-alone chains rely on their own security, have their own verification nodes, and have their own consensus models, such as Proof of Stake (PoS) and Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS). The independent chain is an independent blockchain that does not use the consensus mechanism of Ethereum, so it can provide the highest level of independence and flexibility. However, it does need to sacrifice some security, so during use, it needs to be flexible. trade-off between sex and security.
The architecture of these chains can be flexibly adjusted to inherit some of the security of Ethereum, and Polygon's proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism takes advantage of this architecture, using Ethereum for validator staking and periodic termination checkpoints.
Independent chains are generally very suitable for the following demand-side adoption: - Enterprises - Projects that do not require the highest level of security - Projects with strong community connectivity
Secured chains: The secure chains mentioned here mean that the secure chains rely on the security of Ethereum. It does not mean that Polygon has established its own verification pool. In addition to the currently supported Plasma chain, Polygon will also support other major Layer 2 solutions, such as Optimistic Rollup, zkRollups, Validium, etc., so Polygon can be said to have become a unique Layer 2 aggregator.
Security Chains are generally well suited for demand-side adoption by: - Projects that require the highest level of security - Start-ups, such as young projects and communities
In summary, using independent chains and secure chains, Polygon is compatible with almost all Ethereum expansion solutions. You can think of this scenario as the Internet of Ethereum. Through Polygon’s current expansion solutions, you can easily access Ethereum.