Polygon, formerly known as MATIC was founded in 2017 by a team of Ethereum developers.
It is a protocol and framework developed for linking blockchain networks that are compatible with Ethereum. It not only has support for the multi-chain Ethereum ecosystem but also boosts the transaction speed while reducing the transaction fee.
Polygon is developed to address the challenges associated with Ethereum, like high gas fees and slow transaction speeds, without compromising security. It does this by creating child chains that can process transactions 500 times faster than Ethereum.
Low Polygon gas fees and high transaction speed make it an ideal alternative to Ethereum. The polygon token is viable for payment of gas fees, governance, and staking.
Polygon being low cap crypto has grown immensely in recent years. This is because it has everything that users get from Ethereum, but with cheaper gas fees and higher scalability.
If you are interested to know more about Polygon and how it works, you should read the post below. We have included everything you should know about Polygon in this content platform.
How does Polygon work?
Polygon’s network comes with a software development kit, which is used for building decentralized applications and side-chains supported by Ethereum. These side-chains can be linked to the main blockchain.
Different methods are used to build these side-chains. Some of the popular methods used are:
- Plasma Chains
- zk-Rollups
- Optimistic Rollups
While optimistic rollups and plasma chains are a bit similar, the zk-Rollups help bundle transactions into blocks, which are then put into a single Ethereum blockchain submission.
Polygon is a layer-2 scaling that point to off-chain solutions. This helps remove different aspects from the primary blockchain. This is done before the execution of the side-chains. This causes the evaluating proficiency to spread across the network and thus, it becomes better.
The modular system of Polygon enables developers to send pre-set blockchain networks with a single snap. Not just that, but it also makes all blockchains cooperate easily with other blockchains.
However, there are a few requirements that need to be met before you can interface with decentralized applications that are into the Polygon side-chain. You must store your tokens on the Polygon side-chain after the verification process is over. Additionally, you need to verify your Predicate Contract conveyed by the Ethereum network.
Users are also required to accept tokens on the Polygon side-chain and move them quickly within the network in exchange for a small fee.
To pull the tokens back to the Ethereum network, you need to first make sure that the tokens are scorched on the Polygon side-chain. Also, the scorched exchange verification should be sent to the main Ethereum network.
After the whole process is over, the tokens will be stored back by the “RootChainManager” on the main Ethereum chain.
Different Layers of Polygon
Polygon comprises four distinctive layers. Each of these layers serves a specific purpose.
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The Ethereum Layer
The Ethereum network can be used by the Polygon chains to execute any key components through smart contracts. This includes staking, finality, interoperable messaging, and checkpoints.
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The Security Layer
This is an optional layer that offers ‘validators as a service.’ It can monitor aspects of any polygon chain. It also serves as a meta-chain in a sequence with Polygon chain validation and Ethereum performing validator management. The security layer can be deployed in more than one iteration on the Ethereum blockchain.
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The Mandatory Polygon Networks Layer
This can be described as a set of sovereign networks. Each of these serves its respective network. This layer is responsible for local consensus, the collation of transactions, and block production.
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The Mandatory Execution Layer
This particular layer is needed to interpret and execute transactions in the Polygon chain. It consists of an Execution Logic state transition and virtual machine implementation Environment function of a specific Polygon network. These are usually known as Ethereum smart contracts.
Why is Polygon unique?
So what makes Polygon unique and better? The introduction of Plasma Chains, PoS Chain, ZK roll-ups, optional shared security, and Optimistic roll-ups make Polygon a multi-faceted and unique project.
With fully customisable tech and dedicated throughput, Polygon can be positioned as the go-to solution for apps with high data sensitivity.
Developers with knowledge of Ethereum can handle Polygon. It doesn’t require any new protocol level knowledge or token deposits. It is also free of permissions or fees.
The developer team of Polygon claims that it can easily incorporate scalability to its original solutions. This can be an important factor in securing Polygon’s position in a fast-evolving Ethereum blockchain ecosystem.
From the above discussion, it is clear that Polygon is a better alternative to Ethereum because of its high transaction speed and low fees. To be exact, it is 500 times faster than Ethereum.
