What is Polygon / $MATIC:

• Polygon is a secondary scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain. These types of solutions work on top of an existing blockchain network rather than using their own blockchain. In this instance, Polygon works on top of Ethereum which has become slow and expensive to use as it becomes ever more popular.
• A protocol and a framework for building and connecting Ethereum - compatible blockchain netowrks
  • one click deyployments
  • growing set of modules
  • security as a service
  • interoperability protocol
  • adaptor modules
• Scaling solutions like Polygon make things cheaper by processing some of those transactions elsewhere. In Polygon’s case, batches of transactions are processed on Polygon’s proprietary proof-of-stake blockchain.
• There are 10 billion total possible MATIC coins, and as of December 2021, 7.16 billion of them are in circulation. The rest will be minted by stakers – users who deposit their MATIC tokens into a staking smart contract in order to become validators. Polygon is a proof-of-stake network that randomly selects stakers to validate new transaction data.
• Polygon plans to expand beyond Ethereum. It pitches its services as a framework for an “Internet of blockchains,” which means it can connect any Ethereum-interoperable blockchain together and be used to cut transaction costs and increase speeds.
• Polygon combines the best features of Ethereum and sovereign blockchains into an attractive feature set build by devs for devs.
  • Eth compatibly
  • scalability
  • security
  • sovereignty
  • interoperability
  • user experience
  • developer experience
  • modularity
• Polygon provides the components and tools to join the new, borderless economy and society. any project can have its dedicated and optimized instance of Ethereum which combines the best stand alone blockchain features. tools which are compatible with all existing Ethereum tools
• Polygon Chains, Polygon supports two majors types of Ethereum compatible blockchain networks: stand alone networks and networks that leverage “security as a service”
  • Stand alone chains: fully sovereign Ethereum compatible blockchain network. networks are fully in charge of their own security, having their own pool or validators. offer highest level of independence and flexibility, with the trade off of sometimes challenging validator pool establishing. Enterprise networks and Established projects with strong communities
  • Secured Chains: blockchain networks that use security as a service instead of establishing their own validator pool. service can be provided by Ethereum directly or by a pool of pro validators. secured chains offer high level of security, tradeoff of sacrificing a portion of independence and flexibility
• Polygon Architecture: consists of four abstract, composable layers.
  • Ethereum Layer; the most secure programmable blockchain in the world, to host and execute and mission critical component of their logic. layer is implemented as a set of Eth smart contracts in charge of functions like, Finality/Checkpointing, Staking, Dispute resolving, messaging between Eth and polygon chains
  • Security layer: a specialized, non mandatory layer providing validators as a service - a set of validators that can periodically check validity of any Polygon chain. layer is normally implemented as a meta blockchain that runs in parallel to Ethereum in functions like; Validator management and Polygon chain validation. security layers are fully abstract and can have multiple instances implemented by different entities with different characteristics. can be directly implemented on Ethereum in which case Eth Miners can perform the validation
  • Polygon Networks layer: a constellation of sovereign blockchain networks. each of the networks serves its respective community. maintaining functions like; Transaction collation, local consensus, and block production.
  • Execution layer: this layer interprets and executes transactions that are agreed upon and included in polygon network blockchains, consisting of two sublayers. Execution Environment and Execution logic.
• Matic Network strives to solve the scalability and usability issues, while not compromising on decentralization and leveraging the existing developer community and ecosystem. It is an off/side chain scaling solution for existing platforms to provide scalability and superior user experience to DApps/user functionalities.
• Polygon Solutions: combines the best of Ethereum and sovereign Blockchains into a full stack scaling solution
  • Polygon edge. a modular and extensible framework for building Eth-compatible blockchain networks, written in golang.
  • Polygon PoS Chain. EVM compatible ethereum sidechain, secured by a permission less set of PoS validators and checkpoints submitted to Eth.
  • Polygon Hermez (zk-rollup). Eth layer 2 solution based on succinct validity proofs aka zero knowledge proofs that get periodically submitted and verified on Eth.
  • Polygon Avail. a general purpose scalable data availability focused blockchains targeted for standalone chains, sidechains, and off chain scaling solutions.
  • Polygon nightfall. one of a kind, privacy focused rollup that effectively combines the major concepts of optimistic rollups with zero-knowledge (zk) cryptography commonly used in ZK-rollups thus creating a scalable and private hybrid of the two popular technologies
  • Polygon Miden. a STARK-Based Ethereum-compatible rullup.
  • Enterprise Chains. blockchains that use Security as a service. ie, validation service provided by a shared pool of PoS validators managed on Eth.
  • Polygon Zero. EVM-Compatible Zk rollups based on plonky2, a recursive proof system. to use zero-knowledge proofs to scale Ethereum to a billion users, without compromising decentralization or security. Achieving this requires fast and efficient proof systems. Today, we’re excited to share Plonky2, a major milestone for zero-knowledge cryptography.

Utility of $MATIC

• The MATIC token serves dual purposes: securing the network via staking and being used for the payment transaction fees
  • Fees: the MATC token is used to pay fees for transactions taking place on 400+ Dapps running on Polygon
  • Staking: validators and delegators secure the networks by staking their MATIC in the staking contracts, which are used to achieve consensus and ensure the security of the network.

Polygon Network:

• Market Cap (1/17/22) - $15.5b+
• Wallet Addresses (1/22) - 130k+
• Total Staked MATC (1/22) - $5b+
• Active Validators (1/22) - 100+