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Here’s When Polygon Will Migrate From MATIC Token To POL Token
Polygon will be upgraded to the mainnet on September 4, 2024, following community approval of the proposal.
This update marks the transition from the native MATIC token to a new one with the ticker POL and introduces new smart contracts.
The migration process
“Following PIP-42, a consensus was reached that Polygon PoS validators must stake POL (the upgrade to MATIC) to earn protocol rewards and transaction fees in POL,” Polygon Labs said in a July 18 blog post.
This means that starting September 4, POL will replace MATIC as the native gas and staking token for Polygon’s Proof of Stake (PoS) chain. This transition is a major milestone in Polygon’s roadmap, in line with the broader vision outlined in the “Polygon 2.0” plan introduced last year.
The migration will involve multiple DeFi protocols, dApps, and infrastructure upgrades to support the new POL token. Polygon currently uses two scaling solutions: the Polygon PoS sidechain and the Polygon zkEVM zero-knowledge rollup network.
The upcoming Polygon 2.0 architecture aims to improve the security and efficiency of the network as an aggregate blockchain, unify liquidity, and improve interoperability between multiple ZK-Rollup chains. AggLayer is expected to help connect Polygon 2.0 chains and establish ZK-based proofs of security on Ethereum to secure them immediately.
The Polygon Labs Team declared“POL is a hyper-productive token that can be used to provide valuable services to any chain in the Polygon network, including AggLayer itself.”
They added that in the long term, community consensus suggests that POL will have broader roles in the Polygon staking hub, which will launch in 2025. These roles include block generation, zero-knowledge proof generation, and participation in data availability committees (DACs).
What this means for MATIC holders
For MATIC holders on the Polygon PoS chain, the transition to POL will be seamless. Tokens will be automatically converted to POL without any action required from the user. This effortless upgrade ensures that users can continue to interact with the network without interruption.
However, some action may be needed for MATIC holders on Ethereum, Polygon zkEVM, or centralized exchanges (CEX). Users will have the option to upgrade MATIC to POL via a migration contract already deployed on Ethereum, allowing permissionless upgrades at their convenience.
The POL update was the first deployed on the testnet on July 17, 2024, to ensure a smooth transition. This “dress rehearsal” was important to identify and resolve potential issues, allowing users and developers to familiarize themselves with the new system before migrating to the mainnet.