POL is an ERC-20 token that powers Polygon, a Layer-2 solution, designed to help scale the Ethereum network and improve its functionality.^[1]

Overview

POL is Polygon's native token. It is used to govern and secure the network by staking. It's also the currency of Polygon apps, enabling users to interact with hundreds of decentralized applications in the Polygon ecosystem. As POL is an ERC-20 token issued on Ethereum, it can also be purchased using a variety of decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap and Sushiswap. In addition, a user can use the official Polygon Bridge to exchange assets between Ethereum and Polygon.

POL acts as an economic investment to encourage users to contribute and participate in the Polygon ecosystem. It is used to pay validators as a unit of exchange, and active users who have contributed to the network will receive incentives in the form of this token.

To participate in the network consensus, users must stake POL. The staked POL also serves as a form of punishment for malicious behavior, such as proposing invalid blocks, verifying blocks illegally, or executing invalid transactions, by requiring stakers to put up their stake as collateral. If a staker violates the network rules, their staked POL will be forfeited. ^{[2] [6]}

Tokenomics

MATIC had a fixed total supply of 10 billion tokens, with over 7.4 billion minted by August 2022. Following Polygon’s implementation of the EIP-1559 upgrade in January 2022, MATIC adopted a deflationary mechanism expected to burn approximately 0.27% of the total supply annually, or around 27 million tokens. ^{[3] [4]}

The total breakdown of the MATIC token supply was as follows:

• Private sale (seed round + early supporters): 3.8%
• Binance Launchpad: 19%
• Team: 16%
• Advisors: 4%
• Staking Rewards: 12%
• Foundation: 21.86%
• Ecosystem: 23.33%

The remaining 2.5 billion MATIC tokens not in circulation were planned to be distributed over 4 years through staking rewards. ^[5]

MATIC - POL Migration

In July 2023, Polygon Labs proposed upgrading its MATIC token to a new asset called POL, which would serve as the native token across the Polygon ecosystem. POL launched with a fixed supply of 10 billion tokens allocated for a 1:1 migration from MATIC. The token has a 2% annual emission rate designated for validator rewards and the community treasury. Polygon stated that MATIC and POL cannot coexist, and the upgrade would allow POL holders to validate multiple chains with different roles and incentives.

The Ethereum contract for POL was deployed on October 25, 2023, with a migration date set for September 4, 2024. MATIC holders on Polygon PoS were automatically converted to POL, while those on Ethereum, Polygon zkEVM, or centralized exchanges were required to use a manual process. Following the migration, POL became the native gas token for all transactions on the Polygon PoS chain, and previously staked MATIC was upgraded as well. ^{[7] [10]}