The Ethereum blockchain hosts a vast array of projects, from DeFi instruments and crypto gaming to NFT marketplaces and supply chain traceability initiatives. While Ethereum is primed to facilitate such development due to its compatibility with smart contracts, scaling to such extremes does not come without congestion issues. High gas fees and slow transaction speeds can make the Ethereum platform unviable for users, developers and investors alike.

Designed as a layer-2 (L2) solution to solve this problem, Polygon (MATIC) was built to help scale the main Ethereum blockchain by enhancing the scalability, interoperability, flexibility and security of various crypto projects.

Whether you want to learn more or are considering investing yourself, this guide explores how Polygon works, examines its potential risks, and offers a MATIC price analysis to help you make better-informed decisions. 

polygon (MATIC) crypto currency price

Polygon price analysis

The Polygon price today (as of early February 2024) is around $0.8 per token. The current MATIC price is down by around 34% compared to its February 2023 price, despite bullish trends in the broader crypto market starting from late 2023.

Some experts believe that Polygon’s struggles resulted from MATIC investors exiting the market. However, more optimistic Polygon price predictions exist among market analysts, some of whom suggest that the Polygon price fall is merely a result of a market correction.

It is important to note that despite the current Polygon price situation, the altcoin has experienced an impressive run in the past, reaching an all-time high of around $2.92 in December 2021. While the price at present is far off, with a bull run expected in 2024 post-Bitcoin halving, it is worth considering the factors that might influence MATIC’s price.

Factors influencing Polygon’s price

Like other cryptocurrencies, the crypto market volatility is the most significant reason for the rise and fall of MATIC’s price. However, other factors influencing the coin’s price include:

  • Market sentiment: How investors feel about a particular coin influences its value. If they are optimistic, then the affected coin will experience a price surge due to the prevailing bullish sentiment. Conversely, investors’ lack of confidence will result in a bearish sentiment. For instance, when Polygon laid off about 19% of its workforce in February 2024, the news diminished investor confidence in the project and the coin’s price fell. 
  • Strong competition: Another reason why Polygon is struggling is because its primary feature is to help other platforms scale and process transactions faster while charging lower fees. However, other L2 solutions such as Arbitrum provide stiff competition for the Polygon network. 
  • Demand and supply: Finally, the demand and supply forces are other significant Polygon price influencers. A decline in Polygon’s demand will result in a subsequent price fall. This is because more MATIC tokens will be in circulation, making it less valuable. 

Polygon market performance

Analyzing Polygon’s market performance can help you make informed decisions when investing in the coin. 

Although Polygon aims to improve upon Ethereum, it has never overtaken ETH in terms of market performance. According to data from CoinMarketCap, while Ethereum is the #2 cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a figure (as of February 2024) of around $284bn, Polygon ranks #14, with a market cap of around $7bn. Comparatively, major Polygon competitors such as Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) also rank higher, with market cap values of around $43bn and $18bn, respectively. 

Despite this, Polygon remains among the top-ranking coins by market capitalization and is still one of the most traded and valuable altcoins on the market. 

What is Polygon (MATIC)? 

What is Polygon? Launched in 2017, Polygon is a cryptocurrency and blockchain platform. Designed as an L2 scaling solution on the Ethereum network, Polygon aims to address the limitations of Ethereum. It serves as a scalable and cost-effective solution for Ethereum-based projects that face challenges related to transaction speeds and high gas fees.

Polygon runs parallel, or as a ‘side chain’, to the main Ethereum blockchain. Users can bridge crypto from Ethereum to Polygon, and subsequently interact with the wide range of dApps that were once exclusive to Ethereum. Transaction processing on Polygon is notably fast, with an average block processing time of 2.1 seconds.

So, what is MATIC? MATIC tokens govern and secure the Polygon network while covering transaction fees.

How does Polygon work?

Essentially, Polygon allows Ethereum-based apps and projects to leverage its blockchain in order to improve upon their own scalability, flexibility and security.

Polygon is composed of four layers:

  • Ethereum layer: For transaction finality, dispute settlement, staking and relaying messages.
  • Security layer: For ensuring the validity of Polygon blockchains.
  • Network layer: Each blockchain has its own consensus mechanism.
  • Execution layer: For executing the transactions agreed upon by the first three layers.

Modified proof-of-stake consensus mechanism

Similarly to Ethereum, Polygon uses a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to process and validate transactions. The PoS mechanism that Polygon uses, however, is modified, and is known as scalable PoS architecture. 

Instead of using human validators, the network requires users to stake their MATIC tokens in order to validate transactions with their nodes. The blockchain rewards successful validators with new MATIC tokens.

The modified consensus model makes it more scalable, cheaper and faster than Ethereum. As a result, it supports thousands of dApps.

Polygon uses multiple approaches to scaling, offering a multichain ecosystem. Polygon supports two types of chains: stand-alone chains, which are compatible with Ethereum, and secured chains, which utilize professional validators for added security.

Secured chain

Polygon uses a Commit Chain, which is a PoS chain, modified off of Ethereum’s consensus mechanism. This operates adjacent to the Ethereum mainchain. It batches and submits transaction data to Ethereum, thus benefiting from the security provided by Ethereum. Polygon calls this a secured chain, as it uses Ethereum validators and benefits from a high level of security.

Standalone chain

Standalone chains are also offered by Polygon. These are side chains with their own pool of validators. They can be enterprise chains or application-specific blockchains. Polygon’s PoS sidechain accelerates transactions and minimizes fees through a network of validators, with finalization occurring on the Ethereum mainchain.

Modular deployment for custom blockchains

Polygon offers modular deployment options for developers, including consensus, governance, execution environments and virtual machine implementations.

Scalability mechanisms

Polygon stands out against other L2s due to the use of multiple L2 scalability mechanisms such as Matic Plasma, ZK-Rollups, Optimistic Rollups and Validum Chains, which further enhance transaction speed without compromising security or user experience. 

Native utility token: MATIC

Despite rebranding from Matic to Polygon, MATIC is the native utility token of Polygon. MATIC is used for paying gas fees and participating in governance decisions related to protocol upgrades and network developments. Developers can pay in MATIC to use the Polygon blockchain and its development tools.

Use cases and applications of Polygon

Polygon’s use cases extend beyond trading and staking MATIC, including:

  • Decentralized finance (DeFi): Some of the biggest DeFI projects are built on Polygon. It hosts some of the most popular decentralized exchanges, including Quickswap, Uniswap and SushiSwap, in addition to some popular borrowing and lending protocols, such as Aave and Meshswap.
  • Web 3: Various Web3 applications exist on Polygon, including The Sandbox.
  • Non-fungible tokens (NFTs): OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, is built on Polygon.

Who created Polygon?

The Polygon project itself was originally known as Matic Network, but was later rebranded to Polygon. Polygon Labs, the company behind the blockchain network, was created in 2017 by 10 developers. As the project can be considered a fork of Ethereum, it comes as no surprise that the group of 10 is partially composed of former Ethereum developers. Four of the most widely known co-founders are Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, Mihailo Bjelic, and Anurag Arjun. 

How to buy and store Polygon

Whether you want to invest in Polygon for trading purposes or stake the coin for periodic rewards, the journey begins with buying MATIC. The cryptocurrency is available on various centralized and decentralized exchanges. Follow the steps below to buy MATIC:

  • Step 1: Choose a reputable brokerage and create a trading account using the website or mobile app.  
  • Step 2: Complete identity verification/KYC by submitting proof of identity and address.  
  • Step 3: Deposit funds using the supported payment methods, including cryptocurrencies and fiat money. 
  • Step 4: Buy MATIC on the trading platform. 
  • Step 5: Transfer the MATIC tokens to a self-custodial wallet.

Transferring your coins to a crypto wallet is an important security measure. Before purchasing MATIC, consider which type of wallet best suits your needs and goals.

No one wallet is fundamentally better than another. While hot wallets have the advantage of easy access and proactive management of cryptoassets, cold wallets offer more long-term security. Non-custodial wallets provide users with increased control over their assets, whereas custodial wallets that offer third-party support can be more beginner-friendly. 

Typically, cold wallets such as Trezor and Ledger are top choices among crypto investors, because they offer more robust security than cryptocurrency exchange wallets or software wallets, which are more vulnerable to online security risks.

Risks and challenges of investing in Polygon

There are no perfect investments in the financial markets. Investing in Polygon has inherent risks, which are important to consider:

  • Market volatility: Polygon is a volatile cryptoasset and price predictions are merely speculative. There are no guarantees on either short- or long-term gains from investing in MATIC.
  • Ethereum dependence: Polygon relies on Ethereum to function, so threats to the Ethereum network or price can bring about negative consequences for Polygon.
  • Security concerns: Security is a major concern for all crypto investors. Potential security issues involve hacking, fraud or vulnerabilities in exchanges and wallets. You can increase the security of your assets by only trading on reputable exchanges, implementing two-factor authentication on your accounts, and scrutinizing the links you open on a wallet app to avoid phishing scams and hacks. 
  • Competition: Polygon’s operation within a highly competitive scaling solution market makes it a high-risk investment. 
  • Regulatory and legal aspects: The cryptocurrency landscape is fraught with legal and regulatory ambiguity that varies across jurisdictions. This uncertainty poses a significant challenge, as MATIC is subject to the ever-evolving crypto regulatory landscape, which can impact both utility and price.

Regulatory and legal aspects of MATIC

Regulation remains a significant influence on what happens in the crypto market. With the current regulatory landscape constantly changing and evolving around the use, classification and trading of cryptocurrencies, it can be difficult for both crypto developers and investors to operate strategically within the appropriate guidelines and frameworks.

Altcoins such as Polygon are classified as cryptocurrencies in the EU region. However, Polygon is described as an “unregistered security” by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This ruling by the SEC halted MATIC’s recovery and journey to new market highs, as exchanges such as Robinhood delisted the coin in 2023.

Comparing Polygon to other cryptocurrencies

As a popular L2 solution built on the Ethereum network, let’s compare MATIC with competitors in the same space to see how it stacks up. 

Polygon vs Ethereum 

Ethereum is a much bigger blockchain supporting Polygon, and they operate similarly. Both platforms use the PoS consensus mechanism to validate transactions. However, Polygon offers faster and cheaper transactions, while Ethereum’s Ether (ETH) is more valuable than MATIC. 

Polygon vs Solana

Solana and Polygon are popular scalable solutions that allow other projects to connect to the Ethereum network. Both blockchains were built to offer faster transaction speeds and lower fees compared to Ethereum. However, while Solana is a layer-1 blockchain, Polygon is famous for its layer-2 infrastructure. Similarly, Polygon focuses more on providing scalable solutions for Ethereum dApps, while Solana is more of a digital currency.  

Polygon vs Cardano 

Polygon and Cardano aim to boost interoperability, scalability and security across projects on the Ethereum blockchain. However, while Polygon operates directly on the Ethereum blockchain, Cardano has its native blockchain. So, Polygon uses the native PoS consensus mechanism, and Cardano uses a unique PoS structure called Ouroboros. 

FAQs

How much is 1 Polygon?

As of February 2024, the price of Polygon was around $0.80 per token.

Is Polygon safe?

Polygon is a secure blockchain facilitating decentralized and peer-to-peer transactions. However, as it’s directly built on the Ethereum blockchain, a network issue or security breach on Ethereum can negatively impact Polygon. 

How can I buy Polygon?

The easiest way to buy and invest in MATIC is by using a reputable cryptocurrency exchange. All you need to do is create an account, fund it, and buy Polygon’s MATIC tokens.