Polygon, which was once in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, is now ranked #42, and many ask to this day if it can make a mega-comeback.
From the transition from $MATIC to $POL, the zkEVM termination, and Sandeep Nailwal taking over the company, we’re here to cover everything you need to know!
What is Polygon?
Polygon is a scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain, which originally launched as the Matic network in 2017. Since its inception, it has launched many scaling solutions, including the PoS mainnet, zkEVM, Miden and even app-specific chains to help scale Ethereum to its finest form.
What Happened to Polygon?
At its peak, Polygon was one of the go-to networks in the entirety of Web3, competing with the likes of Ethereum, Avalanche, and the BNB Chain, three leaders at that time.
What started so well then started to tumble. Users moved on to other chains, founders and team members resigned, and now Polygon is fighting to keep its reputation as a leading blockchain protocol.
During the peak of Polygon’s success, the PoS mainnet was its number 1 scaling solution. Eventually, they branched out with other networks, but most notably was Polygon zkEVM, an Ethereum Layer 2 network. Early users of that network expected an airdrop and a thriving ecosystem, but instead, there were no airdrops, and the entire network is getting shut down.
The New Polygon Direction
To this day, many still ask why they shifted from the $MATIC to $POL token, and well, in a nutshell, it was to support the expanding multi-chain ecosystem known as Polygon 2.0. With that, $POL was designed as a “hyperproductive token” to enhance network functionalities and governance capabilities.
As it stands, Sandeep Nailwal, one of the co-founders, has decided to take full control over the direction of Polygon. As mentioned in a CoinTelegraph interview, Nailwal said, “We need to get back to actual product building, your product has to be good, and people should be willing to pay for it.”
The main mission: scale Polygon to 100K TPS.
Polygin Ecosystem & Statistics
As it stands, Polygon currently achieves a throughput of an estimated 700 TPS, and still has a massive TVL of $1B, marking it the 12th largest network by TVL. Overall, there are over 509.59M addresses, with over 5.3B conducted transactions and an average of 1.5M daily users.
In comparison to many other chains, that is superb.
Why is this?
Well, because the Polygon PoS network has a popular ecosystem of over 262 dApps, hosting some of the largest protocols in the entirety of Web3. Whether it’s DeFi, gaming, RWAs or NFTs, the Polygon network is home to your every DeFi desire.
Conclusion
According to CoinMarketCap, at the time of writing, the $POL token is trading at $0.1872 with a market cap of $1.95B, ranking it the 42nd largest crypto by market cap. In March 2024, $POL created an ATH of $1.29, but due to a rough market and internal issues with Polygon, it has seen a decline.
Now, with clearer direction from Sandeep and the Polygon team, will we see one of the biggest crypto comebacks ever?
Official Polygon Links
Disclaimer
The content provided in this article is purely informational and nothing said is financial advice. Proceed with caution and always invest what you are prepared to lose. Remember that you are entirely responsible for your assets and investments and the author and the publication do not endorse any of the cryptocurrencies, protocols and/or strategies in this article.
