[NEWS] Polygon transitions from MATIC to POL

Polygon Labs announced on the 5th that it has transitioned its native token from MATIC to POL. Going forward, all transactions made on the Polygon POS will use POL as the native gas token.

The Ethereum (ETH) scaling network has completed its transition from the long-standing MATIC to POL, with POL becoming the native token of the network. This transition forms an integral part of the Polygon 2.0 roadmap.

The POL transition will phase out MATIC as Polygon's native token.

Polygon announced in a blog post in July that POL would replace MATIC as the native gas and staking token of Polygon's main Proof-of-Stake (PoS) chain.

The POL transition lays the foundation for Polygon 2.0. Polygon 2.0 is a roadmap for Polygon's evolution into a zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) system with its own network of interoperable application-specific blockchains.

According to Polygon, POL brings additional utility to the network. Similar to MATIC, Polygon blockchain validators who participate in staking can earn rewards by re-staking POL to hold their chains in the Polygon network.

In a future update, POL will be used to secure blockchains in Polygon's broader "aggregated" network, also known as the "AggLayer," a core component of Polygon 2.0.

The AggLayer aggregates zero-knowledge proofs from all connected chains to ensure the security of near-instant atomic cross-chain transactions, Polygon explained in a blog post in January.

According to Polygon, MATIC holders on the Polygon PoS chain do not need to take any action before the POL transition. Any MATIC they hold will be automatically converted to POL.

Meanwhile, MATIC holders on the Ethereum network can migrate their tokens to POL via the Polygon Portal Interface.

MATIC holders on the Polygon zkeEVM Layer 2 network or on centralized exchanges may also need to take some steps, such as bridging to Ethereum, to upgrade to POL.

No deadline for migration

The migration contract already deployed will help holders switch from MATIC on Ethereum to POL without permission. However, Polygon cautions that this process is for advanced users.

MATIC holders who hold MATIC as ERC-20 tokens on hardware wallets such as Ledger may need to convert them to POL manually using their wallets, but Polygon has not yet provided any clarification on this matter.

There is currently no deadline for MATIC holders on Ethereum and Polygon zkeEVM to convert MATIC to POL.

However, Polygon also said that in the future, the Polygon community may be given the power to set a deadline.

Reference: Polygon Labs

Image: Shutterstock

Related articles

Polygon closes in on Ethereum in user acquisition in 2023

Polygon announces "Polygon Village 2.0", a grant program with over 110 million MATIC