Polygon Labs is aiming to extensively advance the capabilities of its network on Wednesday, the 4th of September. The Ethereum scaling network will transition from the original MATIC token to POL, which will act as the network token. It should be highlighted that migration is an important link in the Polygon 2.0 roadmap. Before going any further, here is an overview of what the shift implies in case you want to invest in MATIC and what you need to do if you are already an investor in this token. 

What is the “MATIC” to “POL” migration? 

The POL migration will gradually eliminate the MATIC token from Polygon’s ecosystem. They announced in a blog post in early July that POL will replace MATIC as the native gas and staking token for its main proof-of-stake chain.

Why is Polygon moving to POL?

It is noteworthy that the POL migration provided necessary prerequisites for Polygon 2.0, the outlined plan for the transformation into a zkEVM system, including a network of application-specific interconnected chains. POL will also add more functionality to the network. Similar to MATIC, polygon blockchain validators that stake POL to participate in the networks are likely to earn a reward through restaking POL to guard other chains in its supernet.

In future updates, we will use POL to lock other layer 2s within Polygon’s more extensive “aggregated” network, or “AggLayer,” which constitutes a significant aspect of Polygon 2. 0. Later in January, Polygon stated in a blog post that the AggLayer would combine ZK proofs across various connected chains and guarantee the security of near-instant, atomic cross-chain transactions.

Do users need to do anything before the POL migration? 

On the Polygon proof-of-stake chain, MATIC token holders do not require any action before the POL migration. All their tokens will be automatically exchanged for POL tokens. At the same time, people with MATIC tokens on the Ethereum network can transfer their tokens to POL using the Polygon Portal Interface. 

The holders of MATIC on Polygon zkEVM layer-2 or CEXs will have to do something, such as bridging the MATIC to Ethereum, to upgrade it to POL. There is currently an active migration contract that enables holders to transfer from MATIC to POL-on Ethereum without any restrictions.  Polygon also wants to note that this is a process suitable only for those with an excellent understanding of how crypto works. 

Last, MATIC holders who possess MATIC as ERC-20 tokens in hardware wallets such as Ledger may be required to manually swap them to POL, which Polygon has not publicly outlined yet. 

When is the deadline for converting MATIC to POL?

As of now, the holders of MATIC on the Ethereum and Polygon zkEVM do not have any deadline to convert their MATIC to POL, or a posting on its blog suggests that. Still, the Polygon community may be provided with the right to set the deadline in the future, Polygon explained in its post.