What is Polygon (MATIC) and how does it work? A Guide on the Ethereum Layer Two Solution

Rashmeet Kaur
DataDrivenInvestor
Published in
3 min readJul 20, 2021

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Polygon, formerly known as MATIC, is an interchain scalability solution that provides an architecture for constructing a blockchain platform that can communicate with one another. It aims to combine alt networks’ adaptability and scalability with Ethereum’s security, liquidity, and interoperability. Polygon is also anticipating the addition of two more roll-ups to its platform in the future. One will combine several off-chain trades into a single transaction, while the other will run on top of the Ethereum network to speed up operations.

What is Polygon (MATIC) and how does it work? A Guide on the Ethereum Layer Two Solution

Ethereum (ETH) is still the most widely used blockchain technology on the planet. After its launch in 2013, this open-source, decentralized blockchain technology swiftly gained popularity. It provides a POS (Proof-of-Stake) architecture for smart contracts.

However, Ethereum’s rapid popularity comes at a high price, with exchange fees sometimes costing more than the amount transferred. This is because Ethereum has a large number of customers on the network, which significantly reduces exchange scalability.

Polygon MATIC is used to address problems in these situations. Many people are involved in the Polygon system, including block creators, developers, customers, and stakeholders. The MATIC Sidechain is used by Polygon clients to execute and collaborate with various Ethereum-based decentralized apps. It should be emphasized that MATIC is both cheaper and faster than other networks.

To provide their clients with a good client experience, developers are expected to build their own sidechains or expand their apps using the Polygon SDK stack and network.

Polygon’s stakeholders work in the same way that Ethereum’s PoW miners do. Stakeholders must lock MATIC tokens to authorize and validate exchanges on the MATIC Sidechain. To manage the process of block creation on the sidechain, they may also pick qualified block makers by using their locked tokens as voting power. The block makers then build the blocks and settle all of the network’s trades. Stakeholders must lock a certain number of MATIC tokens to be chosen as block makers.

The number of block creators is usually maintained fairly low since having a few block agreement producers allows for greater throughput and faster exchange settlements. The Ethereum main chain, for example, takes about 20 seconds on average to construct a new block, but the Matic Sidechain creates and settles new blocks in less than a second.

How Does Polygon (MATIC) Work?

Polygon’s MATIC Sidechain works in the same way as other Proof-of-Stake blockchains. Except for the fact that exchanges are clustered and settled over the Ethereum mainchain, its structure, token, client nodes, local dapps, validator nodes, and other features are identical to those of other networks.

Fortunately, Polygon has developed a layer-2 network for creating an Ethereum-compatible blockchain platform.

Off-chain scaling methods are alluded to in Layer-2 scaling solutions. This involves reducing or removing components with evaluation power from the main blockchain before executing them elsewhere, such as on sidechains. This increases mainchain performance while also spreading assessing proficiency across the network. Layer-2 solutions are gaining in popularity since they play an important part in the widespread acceptance of cryptographic money.

Polygon’s modular method for constructing bespoke networks allows developers to deliver a pre-configured blockchain platform with a single click. Polygon also makes it simple for any blockchain to collaborate with another without any problems.

Wrapping up

Polygon MATIC platform has demonstrated significant progress in addressing blockchain scaling concerns. Furthermore, various blockchain developers may enjoy constructing their own decentralized network because of the polygon platform’s supplied features and tools, which let developers customize their networks. Learn Blockchain to make a career in the Blockchain domain.

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