This post is for educational and informational purposes only and must not be constructed as containing investment advice. The blogger who wrote this post is not a financial advisor, depending on your country and local regulation, you should seek advice from the appropriate financial advisors to ensure you are informed about the risks.
Status: Published.
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Last update: September 9, 2026
Summary
1- Category
2- Use cases
3- POL Utility
4- Market capitalization
5- Products
The open money stack
5-A- Polygon chain
5-B- Polygon CDK
5-C- crosschain interoperability
5-D- Polygon AggLayer
5-E- wallet infrastructure
5-F- Polygon vaultbridge
5-G- on/off ramps
6- Competition
7- Analytics and Explorers
7-A- Analytics
7-B- Explorers
8- Ecosystem
8-A- Stats
8-B- Corporate arm - Polygon Labs
8-B-1- Coinme.com : crypto payment
8-B-2- Sequence : wallet infrastructure
8-C- Bridge
8-D- Polygon community
8-D-1- Polygon community forum
8-D-2- Polygon community - Hadron founders club
8-E- Polygon governance hub
8-F- influencers
8-G- Staking
8-H- Ecosystem tokens
8-H-1- sPOL
8-H-2- VOL
8-I- Venture
9- Stakeholders
9-A- ETFs
9-B- Partnerships
9-C- Staking
9-C-1- Staking - Delegates
9-C-2- Staking - Validator nodes
10- Polygon ups and downs
10-A- Emission
10-B- Supply
10-C- Burn mechanism
11- Why would someone need to buy POL ?
11-A- Validators staking
11-B- Fees
12- Why Polygon go down ?
12-A- dApps
12-B- Competition
12-C- inflation
12-D- Ethereum network developments
12-E- Rewards distribution
12-F- Unstaking
12-F-a- Unstaking - Delegators
12-F-b- Unstaking - Validators
12-F-c- Unstaking - Exchanges
12-G- List of possible other reasons POL price can go down:
13- Why Polygon go up ?
13-A- Deflation - Burn mechanism
13-B- Competition
13-C- DeFi
13-D- Corporate partnerships
13-E- Upgrades
13-F- Acquisition
13-G- Staking
13-G-a- Staking - Delegators
13-G-b- Staking - Validators
13-G-c- Staking - Exchanges
13-H- Whales accumulation
13-I- List of possible other reasons the price can go up:
14- where to trade Polygon?
14-A- Buy
14-B- Sell
15- Good read
16- How to stay informed about Polygon?
16-A- Polygon News:
16-B- Limited access / require subscription:
Summary
The main characteristic of Polygon is the fact that it is in constant evolution, reorientation, refinement, constant pivoting, redesign, re-engineering,…. it's not a bad thing, it is normal, but still, if i was a web3 reporter i will interview Polygon project manager or scrum master, she/he or they have probably interesting experiences to share.
Recent article published by crypto.news use simple words when they said that Polygon Labs pivot from general-purpose layer-2 scaling to purpose-built consumer and merchant payment rails.
With time passing, it is clear for people observing the blockchain business that payment is where the money (Lebowski) is. The new thesis is simple :
- - focus on payment,
- - get a small fee from the trillions moved through blockchain,…...
The biggest problem Polygon is facing is its dependence on Polymarket, an excessive share of fees revenue came from Polymarket, if tomorrow they decide to migrate from Polygon, the chain will see a serious decline in revenue.
POL is in transition phase, the ecosystem is not a stagnant one, the team is working on understanding and satisfying market demand. with a uncapped supply and a burn mechanism introduced by recent tokenomics change, POL is expected to increase in price. Allocating no more than 1.25% of an entire crypto portfolio is probably the right thing to do, depending on the size of your portfolio.
1- Category
According to Polygon documentation, Polygon is a Layer 2 ethereum scaling solution, it's an EVM-compatible blockchain anchored to ethereum. Sub-6 second finality, 3,800 TPS, and $0.002 average transaction cost.
Polygon chain increases ethereum’s effective throughput and reduces transaction costs by executing transactions off the ethereum mainnet and periodically anchoring state to it through a checkpoint mechanism.
2- Use cases
- cross-border payments,
- tokenization & RWAs,
- stablecoin commerce,
- global payroll,
- treasury management,
- dollar access,…
3- POL Utility
- - gas,
- - staking,
- - governance,….
POL is the native token of the Polygon ecosystem, replacing MATIC. It serves as the gas and staking token on Polygon chain, and is designed to support the network’s future expansion as an aggregated network of blockchains.
In order to be eligible to vote or delegate voting power for governance purposes, community members must stake their POL tokens by delegating to a PoS validator first.
4- Market capitalization
according to coinmarketcap.com, as of September 9, 2026 POL rank 59 with a $1.03 B market capitalization.
5- Products
The open money stack
from : Messari Quarterly Report State of Polygon Q1 2026 :
Stablecoins processed $28 trillion in 2025, surpassing traditional payment networks in volume for the first time. Enterprise payments still demand compliant fiat access, usable wallets, cross-chain routing, and predictable settlement without stitching together a fragile stack of vendors. This is why we are building the Open Money Stack: to bring all those requirements into a single, vertically integrated platform.
the open money stack is Polygon’s stablecoin payments infrastructure :
- - fiat on-ramps and off-ramps,
- - cross-border fiat swaps,
- - fiat-to-crypto,
- - stablecoin orchestration,
- - and onchain settlement,
- - wallet infrastructure,
- - non-custodial account infrastructure,
- - compliance,...
in one open, vertically integrated platform.
5-A- Polygon chain
the go-to settlement layer to move money globally.
5-B- Polygon CDK
Multistack toolkit for building ZK-powered high-performance chains.
5-C- crosschain interoperability
1-click cross-chain transactions.
5-D- Polygon AggLayer
AggLayer is a cross-chain settlement layer unifying liquidity and users of any blockchain for interoperability and growth.
5-E- wallet infrastructure
seamless enterprise-grade wallets for any use case.
5-F- Polygon vaultbridge
Polygon vaultbridge turns TVL into sustainable, chain-native revenue.
5-G- on/off ramps
coinme.com on-and off-ramps for fiat and physical cash.
6- Competition
GrowThePie list ~10 Ethereum Layer2 chains compared on different metrics.
7- Analytics and Explorers
7-A- Analytics
i would like to mention that this post you are reading now was written in about 10 days only, if you really want to dig deep into POL you should visit www.poltrack.tech that focus on POL.
7-B- Explorers
- polygonscan is a block explorer and analytics platform for polygon PoS chain.
- etherscan
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8- Ecosystem
8-A- Stats
| Category | Number of projects |
|---|---|
| DeFi | 135 |
| Gaming | 71 |
| Utility | 34 |
| Tools | 24 |
| Social | 19 |
| B2B | 13 |
| DAO | 12 |
| CEX | 8 |
| DApps | 0 |
| NFT | 0 |
8-B- Corporate arm - Polygon Labs
Polygon Labs builds and operates blockchain infrastructure for global payments. The open money stack enables instant, reliable money movement at internet scale for banks, Fintechs, enterprise, and consumer applications.
Polygon subsidiaries include:
- coinme,
- Sequence,....
8-B-1- Coinme.com : crypto payment
Coinme.com is a secure online platform for buying bitcoin and cryptocurrency. It allows users to create a free account and get started with their own wallet.
8-B-2- Sequence : wallet infrastructure
Sequence.xyz is the application layer to fulfill the promise by making blockchain development accessible, powerful, and interconnected. They provide products such as :
- - wallets,
- - payments,
- - real-time indexer,….
8-C- Bridge
the Polygon Portal is the official trustless two-way bridge between Polygon Chain and ethereum. It lets you transfer tokens without third-party risk or market liquidity constraints. The bridge is available for both the PoS Amoy testnet and mainnet.
8-D- Polygon community
8-D-1- Polygon community forum
the polygon community forum is a space where all are welcome to discuss and ask questions about polygon protocols. This forum serves as a dedicated hub for those aiming to learn more about Polygon protocols and contribute to their development.
8-D-2- Polygon community - Hadron founders club
hadron founders club is a community for founders building EVM/Polygon aligned projects. It is an exclusive community of founders, builders & creators. Working together, to make the future internet of value a reality. Services provided by Hadron founders club include :
- - IRL meetups & events,
- - mentorship & support,
- - fundraising,...
8-E- Polygon governance hub
the Polygon governance hub is a community-driven space responsible for facilitating technical upgrades to decentralized polygon protocols and shared components of the Agglayer.
8-F- influencers
for Polygon there is about three people that can by sharing news or information influence POL price trough social media, they are not social media influencers as commonly known, but professionals involved in Polygon ecosystem:
- Polygon Foundation CEO, Sandeep nailwal : https://x.com/sandeepnailwal
- Polygon Labs CEO, Marc Boiron : https://x.com/0xMarcB
- Vadim web3 :https://x.com/vadim_web3
you can also follow the Polygon foundation page on X.com https://x.com/0xPolygonFdn
8-G- Staking
Polygon staking allow holders to delegate POL to validators to secure Polygon PoS.
Data in the table below is from staking.polygon.technology As of July 14, 2026
| Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| Total validators | 102 |
| Total stake POL | 3,546,491,254 |
| Total stake USD | 293,521,802 |
8-H- Ecosystem tokens
8-H-1- sPOL
sPOL is the liquid staking token for Polygon chain. When you stake POL through the Polygon liquid staking interface, you receive sPOL in return. SPOL represents your share of the staking pool, including accumulated rewards. It is a standard ERC-20 token that can be transferred, traded, or used in DeFi protocols while your underlying POL continues earning staking rewards.
sPOL is a liquid staking token, so staking POL does not lock your position. You have two ways to exit :
- via exchange,
- via unstaking,
8-H-2- VOL
Polygon chain uses a validator share model for delegation. Delegators receive validator-specific ERC20 share tokens (referred to as VOL for a given validator) in exchange for staked POL, at a rate determined by the current exchange rate of the POL/VOL pair.
8-I- Venture
the AggLayer Breakout Program is a combination of an incubator and community-funding for teams building in the Agglayer. It’s designed to help founders move fast, with hands on support from the Polygon Labs team, access to resources, and connections across the ecosystem.
9- Stakeholders
9-A- ETFs
Data as o July 22, 2026
| Ticker | ETF | AUM | Asset Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPYG | Polygon Staking ETP | $3,214,727 | coinshares |
| POLY | 21shares Polygon ETP | $2,684,915 | 21shares |
| VIRPOLY | virtune polygon ETP | $737,646 | virtune |
| VPOL | Vaneck Polygon ETN | $720,800 | vaneck |
| POL | valour polygon sek | $23,853 | valour |
| Total USD | $7,381,941 | ||
| Total POL | POL 92M |
9-B- Partnerships
Known brands that partnered with Polygon include:
| Partner | On |
|---|---|
| Mastercard | Agent pay, settlement, payment |
| Meta | USDC Creator payouts |
| Visa | Stablecoins settlement |
9-C- Staking
9-C-1- Staking - Delegates
Delegates represent staked token holders to vote on key technical decisions. Polygon PoS stakers can delegate their voting power to any address, adjusting and undelegating at any time.
9-C-2- Staking - Validator nodes
validators run both a Heimdall node and a Bor node. Their responsibilities span two areas :
- - on heimdal monitoring staking events on ethereum, validating Bor blocks, and proposing or co-signing checkpoints.
- - On Bor producing and valiadting blocks.
Validators stake POL tokens on Ethereum. A minimum of 10,000 POL is required. The network supports up to 105 active validators at any time.
A maximum of 105 validators can be active at any given time. It’s important to note that active validators are primarily those with high uptime, while participants with significant downtime may be removed.
10- Polygon ups and downs
Polygon is an inflationary cryptocurrency, the total supply is uncapped and the issuance of new tokens through minting is allowed.
Polygon tokenomics also allow for POL to be burned, reducing POL circulating supply.
So as you can see, POL price can be influenced by many events or variables including:
- issuance,
- burning,
- staking,…..
Data in the table below is not accurate and is just an attempt to make sens of POL market supply:
| Component | POL | % |
|---|---|---|
| Total stake | 3,548,967,119 | 33.22% |
| ETFs | 92,000,000 | 0.86% |
| Emission | +x | +x% |
| Burn | -y | -y% |
| The rest | 7,041,793,720 | 65.92% |
| Total | 10,682,760,839 | 100% |
All POL held by ETFs is contained under 1% and can not influence POL price. Staking represent the third of all POL and can increase or decrease, influencing POL price.
The most interesting metric a POL trader can monitor is burning that is tracked by www.poltrack.tech
10-A- Emission
POL has an ongoing emissions schedule. The actual annual emission rate is 2%, shared between the community treasury and validator rewards.
10-B- Supply
the initial supply of POL is 10 billion tokens, matching the MATIC supply on a 1:1 basis at migration.
Data in the table below from polygonscan.com
| Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| POL market cap | 10,678,125,285 POL |
| POL market cap in USD | 905,387,565 |
10-C- Burn mechanism
recent tokenomics update allow for increase in token burning.
According to a recent voice of web3 interview with Polygon CEO, fees generated by Polygon are split in base fees and priority fees, and are allocated as follow:
| Fees category | % | Allocation |
|---|---|---|
| base fee | 100% | burned |
| Priority fee | 24% | goes to block producer:polygon |
| Priority fee | 76% | goes to validators |
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11- Why would someone need to buy POL ?
11-A- Validators staking
Validators stake POL tokens on Ethereum. A minimum of 10,000 POL is required. The network supports up to 105 active validators at any time.
11-B- Fees
Heimdall fee : 10POL,
12- Why Polygon go down ?
12-A- dApps
Polygon depend heavily on Polymarket, Polymarket announcing its possible migration from Polygon in the coming months can significantly reduce Polygon revenue, decrease demand for POL and push its price down.
12-B- Competition
layer 2 ethereum scaling solutions is a competitive market, Polygon slowing upgrades can lead to the loss of significant market share, the decline in demand for POL and its price going down.
12-C- inflation
POL has a 2 % annual emission rate, the increase in circulating supply can push POL price down. the price going down because of inflation can hapen in theory only if [emission > burning].
12-D- Ethereum network developments
as a layer 2 ethereum scaling solution, Polygon depend on Ethereum in the future. Ethereum is actually a leading blockchain, but a possible collapse or decline of ethereum in the future can lead to Polygon retraction and a decline in POL price.
12-E- Rewards distribution
the rewards are distributed whenever a checkpoint is submitted. Approximately 71,795 POL tokens are distributed proportionately on each successful checkpoint submission to each delegator based on their stake relative to the overall staking pool of all validators and delegators. The checkpoint submission is done by one of the validators approximately every 30 minutes.
12-F- Unstaking
when holders unstake their POL they increase POL circulating supply, by doing so they can push the price down.
12-F-a- Unstaking - Delegators
If Polygon delegators find better alternative, they will not renew their POL staking, by doing so they will increase POL supply and can push POL price down.
12-F-b- Unstaking - Validators
if validators start quitting the Polygon validators program, they will unstake POL. This can increase POL circulating supply and push the price down.
12-F-c- Unstaking - Exchanges
if an exchange unlist POL as a token stakable in its platform, it force its users to unstake their POL, and decrease POL exposure to new users interested in staking POL. And this can increase POL circulating supply, pushing the price down.
12-G- List of possible other reasons POL price can go down:
| Stakeholder | How they can push the price down? |
|---|---|
| Community | start taking profit, selling their POL position |
| individual and organizations developers | find an alternative, no longer interested in integrating Polygon in their platforms |
| Social media influencer | Start criticizing Polygon |
| Asset managers | unable or not interested in launching a POL ETF. |
13- Why Polygon go up ?
13-A- Deflation - Burn mechanism
from : BingX Article :
the token possesses a fundamental deflationary mechanism: high transaction throughput across the Open Money Stack results in approximately 1 million POL burned daily, balancing out the token's ecosystem staking emission rates..
Polygon has an uncapped supply, new POL token are constantly issued. Recent tokenomics updates allow for tokens burning, which can lead to supply reduction when ever burning exceed new emissions.
POL becoming scare can push the price up.
POL has a 2 % annual emission rate, the increase in circulating supply can push POL price down. the price going up because of deflation can happen only if [burning > emission].
13-B- Competition
the actual market situation is real world testing lab, a competition of systems architecture. With the open money stack, Polygon is focusing on institutional payments infrastructure, materializing success in this field can lead to increase in demand for POL and its price going up.
13-C- DeFi
as you can see in Polygon ecosystem statistics, DeFi is the category counting the most projects. the progressive adoption of decentralized finance technology is expected to globally generate demand for Layer 2 ethereum scaling solutions. More demand for POL can push its price up.
13-D- Corporate partnerships
Major business partnerships announcement can push POL price up, historically this translated into 3 % to 20 % in the past.
13-E- Upgrades
upgrades solving problems or providing new features can increase demand and push POL price up. Such upgrades can historically lead to 5 % or 10 % increase in POL price.
13-F- Acquisition
news about a future acquisition of another company for vertical integration plans can signal better products quality or profitability in the future, and this can push the price of POL up.
13-G- Staking
13-G-a- Staking - Delegators
Polygon delegators can stake POL, this reduce circulating supply for very short duration or medium duration if renewed.
13-G-b- Staking - Validators
if Polygon attract more validators, they will be required to stake POL. This can reduce POL circulating supply and push the price up.
13-G-c- Staking - Exchanges
when an exchange add POL to the list of token stakable in its platform, it increase POL exposure to users interested in staking. And more staking by new users from new exchange can reduce POL circulating supply, pushing the price up.
13-H- Whales accumulation
Polygon whales holding between 100k and 10 million POL can decide to accumulate additional POL, their large purchase reduce market supply and push the price up. Historically accumulation caused 6 % increase for 42.88 million POL purchased in the past.
13-I- List of possible other reasons the price can go up:
| Stakeholder | How they can push the price up? |
|---|---|
| Asset managers | launch new POL ETF. |
| Community | Mobilize for more POL purchase |
| individual and organizations developers | more interested in integrating POL in their platforms |
| Social media influencer | Promote POL |
14- where to trade Polygon?
I recommend using BloFin.com, a crypto trading solution that provides an easy-to-use, secure and reliable trading experience to beginners and experienced traders.
BloFin allow users to trade +500 cryptocurrencies and provide services and features such :
- - DCA,
- - trading bots,
- - demo trading,
- - copy trading,
- - staking,….
To start trading POL you need to Sign up, you can use this LINK to quickly register as a user with no KYC needed, or use this checklist if you are interested in getting more details.
Once you are registered you can follow steps bellow to start trading Polygon:
As a beginner you should start using 2 order types:
- Market order : allow trader to buy or sell immediately at the best available price in the market,
- Trigger order : trigger orders convert to market order when ever a specific condition is met,
14-A- Buy
- go to spot tab,
- click on spot,
- select POLUSDT,
- go to the order panel (trade) on the right side,
- click on buy,
- select order type,
- enter the order amount,
- review the order details,
- click POL Buy,…..
14-B- Sell
- go to spot tab,
- click on spot,
- select POLUSDT,
- go to the order panel (trade) on the right side,
- click on sell,
- select order type,
- enter the order amount,
- review the order details,
- click POL sell,….
15- Good read
16- How to stay informed about Polygon?
Here you can find a list of resources to stay informed about Polygon.
16-A- Polygon News:
16-B- Limited access / require subscription:
| News Outlet | |
|---|---|
| 1 | bloomberg.com/search?query=polygon |
| 2 | forbes.com/search/?q=polygon |
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