According to an announcement shared by Polygon labs, Polygon’s MATIC token was converted to the new POL token on a 1:1 basis, making it the network’s native gas and staking token as of September 4.
To improve its functionality and introduce Polygon 2.0, Polygon’s native cryptocurrency has implemented a significant technical upgrade.
According to Marc Boiron, the CEO of Polygon Labs, the enhancement will make it easier for the community to engage in the network’s expansion. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Boiron disclosed:
“Now that there are 2% emissions being introduced through this upgrade, it’s going to give an opportunity for the community to participate… Technically even though the full migration hasn’t happened, [season 1 of the community grants program] created some emissions that the community’s been able to use.”
The current market capitalization of Polygon’s token is $3.7 billion, making it the 21st largest cryptocurrency globally. After a year of extensive community discussions and consensus, the upgrade is a component of Boiron’s overarching designs for Polygon 2.0.
POL is evolving into a “hyperproductive” token
According to Boiron, the second-most significant rationale for the technical upgrade was transforming POL into a hyperproductive token.
The CEO of Polygon Labs elaborated:
“POL goes one step further and as it gets kind of embedded in the different things in the Polygon Network, it becomes hyperproductive in the sense that it can actually earn fees from multiple different sources.”
The new POL token will generate fees from various actions, including staking to ensure data availability and decentralizing a sequencer, in addition to gas and staking, which were MATIC’s sole revenue sources. Additional fee-generating opportunities are forthcoming.
Boiron termed this hyperproductive token the next evolution of Ether, which can earn gas fees from transactions.
Migration from MATIC to POL: Essential Information
MATIC holders are subject to a flexible deadline for upgrading their tokens despite completing the migration on September 4. The conversion of all staked MATIC to POL will occur automatically without the need for any additional action.
July 17 marked the practical completion of the testnet upgrade.
Polygon’s AggLayer, a cross-chain interoperability protocol that aims to connect segregated blockchains, will also incorporate the new POL token. AggLayer is a placeholder for the aggregation layer.
The final evolution of the Polygon CDK and AggLayer, Polygon 2.0, is the technical migration, a critical component of the vision to unify all blockchains, including Layer-1s such as Ethereum and Bitcoin, by providing “infinite scalability.”
