Polygon will undergo a mainnet upgrade on September 4, 2024, following community approval of the proposal.
This update marks the transition from the native MATIC token to a new one with the POL ticker and introduces new smart contracts.
The migration process
“After PIP-42, consensus was reached that Polygon PoS validators must participate in POL (the upgrade to MATIC) to earn protocol rewards and transaction fees in POL,” Polygon Labs said in a July 18 blog post.
SAVE THE DATE: MATIC → POL
Following community consensus, the long-awaited update is scheduled for September 4th
• Early phase: POL replaces MATIC as native gas and staking token for Polygon PoS
• Later phases: POL will play a crucial role in the AggLayer
More details 🧵 pic.twitter.com/SyxsFAlOeZ
— Polygon Foundation (@0xPolygonFdn) July 18, 2024
This means that starting September 4th, POL will replace MATIC as the native gas and staking token for Polygon’s Proof of Stake (PoS) chain. This transition is a milestone in Polygon’s roadmap, which aligns with the broader vision outlined in the “Polygon 2.0” plan introduced last year.
The migration will involve various DeFi protocols, dApps and infrastructure upgrades to support the new POL token. Polygon currently uses two scaling solutions: the Polygon PoS sidechain and the Polygon zkEVM zero-knowledge network.
The upcoming Polygon 2.0 architecture aims to improve the security and efficiency of the network as an aggregated blockchain, unify liquidity and improve interoperability across multiple ZK-Rollup chains. AggLayer is expected to help link Polygon 2.0 chains and establish ZK-based security proofs on Ethereum to secure them immediately.
The Polygon Labs team stated, “POL is a hyperproductive token that can be used to provide valuable services to any chain in the Polygon network, including AggLayer itself.”
They added that, in the long term, community consensus suggests that POL will play broader roles in the Polygon’s participation hub, which will be launched in 2025. These roles include block generation, proof-of-knowledge generation zero and participation in data availability committees (DAC).
What does this mean for MATIC holders
For MATIC holders on the Polygon PoS chain, the transition to POL will be seamless. The tokens will automatically be converted to POL without any action required by the user. This effortless upgrade ensures that users can continue to interact with the network without interruption.
However, some action may be required for MATIC holders on Ethereum, Polygon zkEVM or centralized exchanges (CEX). Users will have the option to upgrade MATIC to POL via a migration contract already deployed on Ethereum, allowing permissionless upgrades at their convenience.
The POL update was first rolled out to the testnet on July 17, 2024 to ensure a smooth transition. This “dress rehearsal” was important in identifying and fixing potential problems, allowing users and developers to familiarize themselves with the new system before the migration to the main network.
SPECIAL OFFER (Sponsored) Binance Free $600 (Exclusive to CryptoPotato): Use this link to register a new account and receive an exclusive welcome offer of $600 to Binance (full details).
2024 LIMITED OFFER on BYDFi Exchange – Up to $2888 Welcome Reward, Use this link to register and open a 100 USDT-M position for free!