Polygon Labs is set to rock the boat in the crypto world. The key developer behind the Polygon Layer-2 network announced a big technical upgrade for September 4. It's gonna replace the current MATIC token with a new POL token.
This move is part of Polygon's grand plan. They call it "Polygon 2.0". The company first floated this idea to the community in July 2023.
The upgrade's first step is pretty technical. POL will become the native gas and staking token for Polygon's main proof-of-stake chain. Coindesk reported on this development.
But that's not all. POL will gradually start securing other blockchains in Polygon's network. This includes something called the AggLayer.
Polygon's blog post hyped up the new token. "POL is a hyperproductive token that can be used to provide valuable services to any chain in the Polygon network, including the AggLayer itself," they said.
Most MATIC holders don't need to worry. If your tokens are on the Polygon PoS chain, they'll automatically convert to POL. Easy peasy.
But there's a catch. Some users will need to do a bit of legwork. If you're holding MATIC on Polygon's zkEVM rollup, centralized exchanges, or the Ethereum blockchain, you'll need to follow specific steps.
Polygon's not taking any chances with this upgrade. They've already run tests on July 17. They identified and fixed potential issues before the big day.
This shake-up comes at an interesting time. It's happening just before Benzinga's Future of Digital Assets conference on Nov. 19. Big names in the industry will be there, talking about the future of digital assets and blockchain tech.
The crypto world is watching closely. Polygon's move could be a game-changer in the Layer-2 race. It's a bold bet, but only time will tell if it pays off.