Polygon developers have set September 4 as the date for converting the utility token MATIC into the Polygon Ecosystem Token (POL) at a 1:1 ratio.
SAVE THE DATE: MATIC → POL
After community consensus, the long-awaited upgrade is set for September 4th
• Initial phase: POL replaces MATIC as the native gas and staking token for Polygon PoS
• Subsequent phases: POL will serve a crucial role in the AggLayer
More details? pic.twitter.com/SyxsFAlOeZ
— Polygon Foundation (@0xPolygonFdn) July 18, 2024
The community has approved the initiative.
POL will replace MATIC as the primary asset for staking and gas payments.
The existing tokenomics, distribution, and total supply are expected to remain unchanged. The latter parameter stands at 10 billion with an annual inflation rate of 2%.
In subsequent phases, depending on community opinion, POL’s functionalities may be expanded, particularly within the AggLayer blockchain aggregation layer.
For current MATIC holders on the Polygon PoS network, the transition to POL will occur automatically, without user intervention.
However, those holding the asset on Ethereum, Polygon zkEVM, or various CEX will need to undertake specific migration procedures, according to the project’s announcement.
Developers and stakers who have delegated MATIC in the network of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap will receive tokens automatically converted to POL, with the option to opt out of the transition at their discretion.
As part of the migration, the team will conduct extensive updates to dapps and infrastructure.
The idea of launching a new coin was first proposed in mid-July as part of the Polygon 2.0 update. The main goal of the initiative is to ensure network scalability without compromising security.
The Polygon team stated that the coin “will facilitate the creation of a vast ecosystem of second-layer solutions based on zero-knowledge proofs.”
POL also paves the way for other aspects of the Polygon 2.0 roadmap, including the creation of a separate staking layer, upgrading the current PoS mechanism to zkEVM-2, and developing a unified liquidity protocol.
On October 25, Polygon Labs deployed the POL smart contract on the Ethereum mainnet. Currently, the token is not used in operations within protocols.
Earlier, Matic Foundation unlocked the final 273 million MATIC.