Overview
Polygon started in 2017 as Matic Network, founded by Sandeep Nailwal, Jaynti Kanani and Anurag Arjun in India, later joined by Mihailo Bjelic. Its Polygon PoS chain became one of the most-used networks linked to Ethereum, thanks to very low fees.
In September 2024, the MATIC token was upgraded to POL. In 2025, Sandeep Nailwal became CEO of the Polygon Foundation and refocused the project on payments and on AggLayer, a system that links many chains together.
How it works
- Polygon PoS processes transactions quickly and cheaply; validators stake POL to secure it.
- The Rio upgrade (late 2025) changed how blocks are produced, aiming for about 5,000 transactions per second and near-instant finality, with a longer “Gigagas” goal of 100,000 TPS.
- AggLayer lets different chains share liquidity and move assets more easily.
- Polygon’s older zkEVM chain is being shut down in 2026.
Payments and Polymarket
Polygon has become a major network for stablecoin payments: peer-to-peer stablecoin transfers reached about $7 billion in a single month in late 2025, and payment companies such as Stripe and Shift4 work with it. It is also home to Polymarket, the largest prediction market.
The POL token
| POL at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Supply (Oct 2026) | about 10.6 billion POL (about 2% yearly emission) |
| Price (29 Oct 2026) | about $0.093 |
| All-time high | about $1.29 (March 2024) |
| Market cap | about $980 million (#76) |
POL is used for gas and staking on Polygon PoS and to secure AggLayer. A yearly emission of about 2% funds validators and the community treasury.
Risks
- Competition. Base, Arbitrum, Solana and others compete for the same payments and apps.
- Inflation. POL’s yearly emission dilutes holders unless demand grows.
- Strategy shifts. Polygon has changed direction several times (sidechain, ZK, AggLayer, payments).
- Value link. Heavy payment usage doesn’t automatically create demand for POL, as fees are tiny.
Polygon vs. the competition
| Polygon | Arbitrum | Base | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main focus | Payments, Polymarket | DeFi | Consumer apps |
| Token | POL | ARB | None |
| DeFi deposits (Oct 2026) | ~$700 million | ~$1.4 billion | Large |
Our verdict
Polygon has found a practical niche in payments and powers some of crypto’s most-used apps, such as Polymarket. But its network success hasn’t translated into POL’s price, and competition is intense. POL is a high-risk investment: invest only what you can afford to lose.
This review is for information only and is not financial advice.