Polygon

What is Polygon?

Polygon is a family of blockchain networks built around Ethereum, best known for Polygon PoS, a low-fee chain widely used for stablecoin payments, games and prediction markets. POL is the token that pays gas on Polygon PoS and is staked by validators to secure it. POL replaced the older MATIC token in an upgrade that began in September 2024.

What it’s used for

Businesses and apps use Polygon PoS to move stablecoins cheaply, and consumer apps use it for games, collectibles and prediction markets. Users pay small gas fees in POL. Holders can delegate POL to validators to earn staking rewards.

Role of the POL token:

Evidence of real use

• Since September 2024 every Polygon PoS transaction has used POL as gas, and by about a year later 99% of MATIC on the network had migrated to POL. Source
• Polygon PoS supports a maximum of 105 active validators, who stake POL to produce blocks and take part in consensus. Source
• In January 2026 Polygon Labs agreed to acquire Coinme and Sequence for more than $250 million to build regulated stablecoin payment services in the US. Source
• On September 10, 2025, Polygon PoS suffered a finality incident that delayed finalization of blocks for hours. Source

How Polygon works

Polygon PoS has two layers. Bor produces blocks and runs smart contracts that work like Ethereum's, so wallets and apps can move over easily. Heimdall is a proof-of-stake layer where validators who have staked POL check Bor's blocks and regularly post a checkpoint, a summary of the chain's state, to Ethereum. Because validators, not Ethereum, ultimately secure the chain, Polygon PoS is better described as a proof-of-stake sidechain than a rollup.

POL replaced MATIC starting September 4, 2024. Holders on Polygon PoS were switched automatically, and MATIC held on Ethereum can be upgraded one-for-one through Polygon's portal. With the upgrade, Polygon added an emission of up to 2% of supply per year for ten years, split between validator rewards and a community treasury. Some investors have publicly pushed to end that inflation, arguing it adds steady selling pressure.

Polygon Labs now focuses on payments under the banner of an Open Money Stack, including a 2025 upgrade that brought finality down to about five seconds and the 2026 purchase of payments firms Coinme and Sequence. Polygon also develops Agglayer, a system meant to connect many chains so assets can move between them. Because Polygon's strategy has shifted several times, it is worth checking which network a given app actually runs on.

Key moments

1. 2017Matic Network is founded in India to scale Ethereum.
2. 2020Matic mainnet launches; it rebrands to Polygon in early 2021.
3. 2024POL replaces MATIC as the gas and staking token on September 4.
4. 2025The Heimdall v2 upgrade cuts finality to about five seconds; a September finality incident delays the chain.
5. 2026Polygon Labs agrees to buy Coinme and Sequence to build US stablecoin payments.

Supply

POL launched with about 10 billion tokens, matching MATIC's supply at a one-to-one swap. It has an emission schedule of up to 2% per year for ten years, half to validators and half to a community treasury, which governance can change.

Risks to understand

• Security model: Polygon PoS relies on its own validator set rather than Ethereum's proofs, so a validator failure or collusion could affect funds on the chain.
• Migration mistakes: old MATIC on Ethereum must be upgraded through the official portal, and scammers impersonate migration sites.
• Dilution: ongoing POL emissions add supply unless offset by burns or changed by governance.
• Liveness: Polygon PoS has had outages and finality delays that paused or slowed activity.
• Strategy risk: Polygon has shifted focus several times, and its payments push depends on partners and US regulation.

Last reviewed October 4, 2026 by The Crypto Guide editorial team. Utility Lens ratings are editorial judgments, not investment advice. Market data from CoinGecko. Spot an error? Request a correction.