MATIC tokens to upgrade to POL in September as a part of Polygon 2.0

Layer 2 blockchain Polygon is preparing to migrate its MATIC token to POL as part of its upgrade to Polygon 2.0.

According to the Polygon Foundation’s July 18 X post, the upgrade will begin on September 4. POL will initially replace MATIC as the primary token for gas payments and the staking token for proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus.

In the long term, the token will play a critical role in the “AggLayer,” Polygon’s growing network of aggregated blockchains.

“Current community consensus suggests that POL will support broader roles including block creation, zero-knowledge proof generation, and participation in Data Availability Committees (DACs) on the Polygon staking hub, which is set to launch in 2025.”

The POL upgrade went live on the Polygon testnet on July 17, giving network developers and infrastructure providers time to prepare for the mainnet upgrade.

Users holding MATIC on the Polygon network do not need to do anything and their tokens will automatically be upgraded. However, those holding it on Ethereum, Polygon zkEVM or centralized exchanges will need to bridge, update smart contracts or use a relay contract.

For users on most major centralized exchanges, Polygon expects the upgrade to be automatic.

However, if an unsupervised user fails to update the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) settings on their crypto wallet, the token symbol may erroneously display “MATIC” instead of “POL.” RPC settings are configuration details that allow wallets like MetaMask to communicate with a specific blockchain network.

As of publication, there is no deadline set for MATIC holders on Ethereum and Polygon zkEVM to upgrade to POL.

“The community will have the authority to set a deadline in the future,” the announcement said.

Plans to replace MATIC with POL were first announced in July 2023, with the Ethereum contract for the POL token launching a few months later, on October 25.

The POL migration is the first step in laying the foundation for Polygon 2.0, referred to as the “Value Layer of the Internet.” The upgrade is expected to deliver significant scalability and liquidity improvements.

The initial supply of POL will be 10 billion, giving holders governance rights in the Polygon 2.0 ecosystem. 2% of the entire POL supply will be set aside annually for validator rewards and the community treasury.

The announcement comes as Polygon’s NFT sales volume surpassed Solana and Bitcoin earlier this month. This increase was seen despite the overall NFT sector experiencing a more than 70% decrease in the number of total NFT buyers.