Polygon Laboratories has technology/blog/polygon-2-0-milestone-pol-contracts-are-live-on-ethereum-mainnet” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>thrown out the ethereum contract for the new Polygon token, POL, according to an October 25 announcement. The new token is intended to replace the ecosystem’s current token, MATIC. However, the team said that users currently do not need to change their MATIC to POL.
The POL token upgrade is now available on the ethereum mainnet.
Polygon 2.0, released this summer, is a roadmap for scaling ethereum and building the Internet’s value layer. POL unlocks that future.
POL is a next-generation token that can power a vast ecosystem of ZK-based L2 chains.… pic.twitter.com/gmrsu0ZqLz
– Polygon (Labs) (@0xPolygonLabs) October 25, 2023
According to blockchain data, the new token was created on October 25 at 09:06 am UTC. Its full name is “Polygon Ecosystem Token”. In the announcement, the Polygon team stated that POL would “power a vast ecosystem of zero-knowledge-based Layer 2 chains” by implementing a ‘re-staking protocol’ that allows token holders to stake it across multiple chains, performing multiple functions in the process.
The token launch will now pave the way for other aspects of the Polygon 2.0 roadmap to be implemented, including the launch of a new staking layer for the Polygon ecosystem, upgrading the current proof-of-stake (PoS) network to zkEVM layer-2 and creating a shared liquidity protocol for all Polygon networks, according to the post.
Related: ZK-Focused Manta Pacific Opts Out of OP Stack for Polygon CDK
The team emphasized that POL is not currently used for any systems on the Polygon network. Staking on both Polygon PoS and Polygon zkEVM is still done through the old token, MATIC, and gas fees on the PoS network are still paid with MATIC. Therefore, users, validators and application developers do not need to change their MATIC to POL at this time.
Polygon Labs first announced that it was developing a new Layer 2 ecosystem on June 29. He called the new ecosystem “Polygon 2.0.” On September 14, the team announced that Polygon 2.0 would use a new token, POL. But at that time, the token was just a proposal and had not been implemented on ethereum.
Polygon’s proposed layer 2 ecosystem will use zero-knowledge proofs to validate cross-network transactions. It will face competition from the Optimism ecosystem proposed by Optimism Labs, which will use optimistic cumulative technology to protect messages between networks.
