The Polygon Foundation has set the highly anticipated date for migrating from MATIC to POL tokens. MATIC will be replaced with POL as the native gas and staking token for the Polygon proof-of-stake (PoS) network. This major update aims to enhance the Polygon network’s functionality and utility. Future phases might see further expansion of POL functionality, particularly within the AggLayer, pending community consensus.

Transitioning to POL Tokens

Polygon Labs announced the MATIC to POL mainnet upgrade for September 4 in an official release on July 18. This community-driven migration, initially proposed last year, aims to improve network capabilities. Sandeep Nailwal, a co-founder of Polygon, supports the upcoming chain expansions.

The first phase of the transition involves converting MATIC to POL for the Polygon PoS gas and staking token. Subsequently, Polygon public chains will transition to the Staking Layer, with the AggLayer benefiting greatly from the increased utility of the POL token.

MATIC holders on the Polygon PoS network and MATIC stakers and delegators on Ethereum do not need to take any action for the migration. However, MATIC holders on the Ethereum chain, Polygon zkEVM, and centralized exchanges (CEXes) will need to manually relocate their tokens. On July 17, a live testnet migration began to ensure a smooth transition.

Additionally, extensive upgrades will be made to decentralized applications, infrastructure, and financial protocols to support the new POL coin as part of the migration.

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Polygon’s Scaling Strategies

Polygon employs two scaling strategies: Polygon zkEVM, a zero-knowledge rollup network, and Polygon PoS, a sidechain. Polygon 2.0 architecture aims to create a single liquidity framework. It improves interoperability and shared state functionality across ZK-Rollup chains.

The AggLayer will connect and secure the Polygon 2.0 chains. It settles ZK-based security proofs back on Ethereum. Polygon recently introduced “zkPoS Phase 1.” This proposal connects Polygon PoS with the AggLayer. It is part of Polygon PoS’s transformation into a zkEVM Validium.

Potential Impact on MATIC Prices

MATIC’s price has faced challenges since the SEC classified it as a security in lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase. Over the past year, MATIC has dropped 29% and 4% in the past month. Despite these declines, trading volume increased by 9% in the last 24 hours, indicating a rise in interest among traders.

source: CoinMarketCap 24-Hour Polygon (MATIC) Price Chart

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In the last 24 hours, MATIC’s price fell 3% after an 8% increase earlier this week, with a low of $0.5399 and a high of $0.5607. The Polygon community remains optimistic, expecting growth in the network and token price following the upcoming upgrade and further developments.