Polygon network will replace the MATIC token with POL (POL) tokens following the upgrade planned for September 4. Polygon Labs launched the Ethereum contract for the POL token on October 25 as part of the Polygon 2.0 roadmap, which aims to power a broad ecosystem of zero-knowledge-supported Layer-2 networks. The POL upgrade aims to expand the utility of Polygon’s native token and power the collective blockchain network known as AggLayer.
Polygon Team Announces POL
POL upgrade first went live on the Polygon test network on July 17, giving the community about six weeks to identify and fix potential issues before the mainnet transition. In the initial phase, POL tokens will replace MATIC as the transaction fee and staking token for Polygon. However, the Polygon community sees greater potential in the new native token for the future.
According to the current community consensus, POL will support a broader role in 2025, including block creation, zero-knowledge proof generation, and participation in data availability committees (DACs) at the soon-to-be-established Polygon staking hub.
The recent POL upgrade on the test network will allow users, developers, and infrastructure providers to better prepare for the upcoming mainnet upgrade. According to the announcement, MATIC holders on the Polygon network will have their assets automatically upgraded to POL without any intervention.
Details on the Matter
With these developments, MATIC holders on Ethereum, Polygon zkEVM, or centralized exchanges will need to either bridge, update smart contracts, or use a transition contract for manual upgrades:
“If users do not update the RPC settings in a wallet (MetaMask, Rabby, Zerion, etc.), the wallet may continue to display MATIC as the token symbol for the Polygon network instead of POL.”
Polygon Labs is also working with TON to bring Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) functionality to the TON ecosystem. On July 9, TON and Polygon announced that the TON network integrated Polygon CDK and the interoperability protocol Agglayer to bring EVM-compatible decentralized applications (DApps) to TAC.
