What’s Polygon?
Polygon is a software program platform that executes transactions extra rapidly and cheaply than Ethereum alone. Polygon’s proof-of-stake (PoS) structure was designed to reinforce Ethereum’s scalability and infrastructure. Polygon is a “Layer 2” chain—a blockchain constructed on prime of Ethereum’s blockchain, which is “Layer 1.” Layer 2 options deal with smaller transactions off the primary blockchain, serving to Ethereum broaden in dimension, safety, effectivity and usefulness—which in flip incentivizes builders to construct their merchandise on its ecosystem.
What’s MATIC?
MATIC is Polygon’s native cryptocurrency, and it underpins the community. As of mid-Might 2022, MATIC is within the 18th spot on the crypto coin chart, with over US$5 billion in market capitalization, and one coin is valued at US$0.75. MATIC racked up a whopping 13,426% achieve in 2021, rising from US$0.019 to US$2.57 by yr’s finish, handily outperforming such crypto heavyweights as bitcoin (575%) and ether (375%).
Polygon, the corporate, was based in India in 2017. Its co-founders embrace entrepreneurs Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal and Anurag Arjun and engineer Mihailo Bjelic. Polygon counts billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban and famend serial entrepreneur and angel investor Balaji Srinivasan amongst its key buyers.
As an Ethereum sidechain, Polygon is plugged into a bunch of decentralized purposes (dApps) starting from NFTs and DeFi to good contracts and the metaverse. DApps are purposes that run on a blockchain community of computer systems as a substitute of relying on only one pc.
On this planet of blockchain, Ethereum has been the go-to ecosystem for builders seeking to launch dApps; nonetheless, excessive demand has made the community pricey and sluggish. The Polygon community helps builders to beat transaction logjams on the primary Ethereum blockchain. “Polygon works on prime of Ethereum, enhancing scalability and throughput whereas nonetheless benefiting from Ethereum’s safety properties,” says Shiv Madan, co-founder and CEO of Moonwalk, an NFT and Web3 platform for manufacturers, creators and communities.
Polygon and DeFi, NFTs and Web3
The Polygon blockchain’s velocity, scalability and low charges have made it a horny vacation spot for DeFi app builders. At present, there are 481 DeFi apps listed on Polygon, with whole worth locked of greater than US$215 billion as of April 21, in response to Defi Llama.
NFTs have grown in recognition, pushed partly by celeb endorsements and stratospheric costs paid for in-demand specimens—and Polygon is properly positioned to profit from this growth. Over 400 NFT initiatives have been constructed on Polygon, together with choices from heavyweights akin to Adidas, Prada, Decentraland, Draft Kings and Crypto Punks 2. This quantity is predicted to rise. Polygon permits less expensive transactions and minting of NFTs, which will be bought to collectors.
In December 2021, NBA icon Steph Curry launched a group of just about 3,000 NFT sneakers on the Polygon community. Polygon additionally powered luxurious model Dolce & Gabbana’s NFT public sale final yr.