Network adoption for the Ethereum blockchain reached an all-time high in 2021 as the number of blockchains developed on it increased. Unfortunately, gas fees on the network went through the roof as the demand for ETH pushed up its price, making transactions extremely expensive.

Although ETH prices have gone down significantly due to ETH price fluctuations, the value of the token will likely still go up and this threatens the demand due to high fees which make it expensive for users. Fortunately, the Polygon network provides an ideal solution for significantly lower transactions, by offering scalability solutions for the Ethereum network.

Polygon operates a child chain of the Ethereum network whose snapshot is regularly submitted to the Ethereum main chain through validator nodes. Polygon was designed to increase the speed of the Ethereum blockchain without compromising its security through the child chain which is 500 times faster than the mainnet.

The role of MATIC in staking and network security

One of the most important measures taken to avoid or discourage manipulation of Polygon’s child chain is MATIC staking. MATIC is the native token on the Polygon network and it can be staked through the validator nodes on the network. MATIC tokens in nodes that act as validators risk being destroyed if they attempt to manipulate snapshots submitted to the Ethereum blockchain. This approach maintains discipline in the validator nodes while encouraging participation through rewards.

The MATIC token has so far enjoyed significant gains in the crypto market in 2021. It traded as low as $0.008 in January 2021 and peaked at $2.70 during the crypto bull run. It is currently trading at $1.44 after dropping by 13.58% in the last 7 days although it is up 6.31% in the last 24 hours.

The process of switching to Polygon

Users who want to achieve lower transactions by switching over to the Polygon network will need a Metamask wallet. However, there is a bit of a process to ensure that the wallet is compatible with the Polygon network. Users should also note that Ethereum tokens cannot be directly sent to the MATIC wallet. Instead, users have to send the tokens to Metamask where they will be converted using the MATIC bridge.

MATIC and ETH will be required for transaction fees in the conversion process. Once the process is complete, you can access the Metamask wallet through the MATIC wallet website where you should link the two wallets. Once you successfully complete this process, you can click on the ‘’move funds to MATIC mainnet’’ tab. This will take you to the MATIC Bridge through which you can swap cryptocurrencies from the Ethereum Metamask wallet to the MATIC wallet.

Why go through all the trouble of shifting to Polygon?

Expensive transaction fees could easily burn a hole through your crypto wallet if you are not careful. To put it into perspective, AAVE which is on Polygon is a decentralized crypto lending platform. AAVE is 10,000 times cheaper and 500 times faster than Ethereum. The ability to lower costs by such a huge margin is particularly beneficial when running Dapps on the Polygon network. It facilitates huge savings in transaction costs.

Users can use the lower fees to protect their gains after making trades. Note that transactions may take some time because they have to wait for a snapshot especially when transferring funds back to the Ethereum wallet. The process is also quite technical but is worth it especially for those that conduct regular crypto transactions. It would be less technical if major exchanges support transferring funds directly from crypto exchanges without the MATIC bridge from Ethereum.