Finding the greatest platform to create on and invest in is a top priority for many developers and investors as the blockchain sector and cryptocurrency market gain more traction.
Although Ethereum has long held the top spot in this industry, other blockchains—like Polygon, formerly known as Matic Network—are catching up.
What distinguishes them, though? Which one is more appropriate for your requirements? We will examine the features.
Polygon vs Ethereum: History and Background
Ethereum is a blockchain platform that was created in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin. It became well-known very fast for its cutting-edge capabilities, such the capacity to create decentralised apps and smart contracts. Since then, Ether (ETH), the platform's own digital currency, has grown to become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
In contrast, Polygon was introduced as a Matic Network in 2017 in order to address Ethereum's scalability problem. A group of developers lead by Anurag Arjun, Sandeep Nailwal, and Jaynti Kanani designed it.
It changed its name to Polygon in 2021 and separated from Ethereum to become a stand-alone blockchain network.
Technical Differences between Polygon and Ethereum Network
Breaking down the technical differences and exploring features, working, and network architecture of two leading blockchain technology platforms.
1. Polygon vs Ethereum: Consensus Mechanism
The Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus process used by Polygon is hybrid. The advantages of checkpointing and PoS are combined. By periodically capturing snapshots of the network's state and anchoring them to the Ethereum mainnet, checkpointing adds another layer of security. Attackers will find it more difficult to alter the network's history with this strategy.
With its Ethereum 2.0 update, Ethereum is presently implementing a pure PoS consensus method. It is less expensive and uses less energy than Bitcoin's proof of work.
Using Proof of Stake (PoS), users can approve transactions and add new blocks according to how much cryptocurrency (in this case, ETH or MATIC) they own.
2. Polygon vs Ethereum: Smart Contract Language
Polygon is an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution that works with smart contracts that are compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). In addition to supporting Vyper and other programming languages, it writes smart contracts in Solidity. Golang is an open-source programming language used to write its SDK.
Ethereum uses Solidity, its native programming language, to carry out smart contracts. It enables the development of dApps capable of carrying out a range of operations, from straightforward transactions to intricate calculations.
3. Polygon vs Ethereum: Transaction Speed (TPS)
Transaction times on Polygon are quicker than on the Ethereum network. On its mainnet, it can execute up to 7,000 transactions per second (TPS), compared to Ethereum's 15–25 tps.
But compared to the Ethereum blockchain, Polygon can process transactions at a potential throughput of 65,000 TPS, which is 4000 times quicker. However, it remains a speculative presumption. Because of the growing volume of network traffic, it is nearly impossible.
4. Polygon vs Ethereum: Gas Fees (Transaction Fees)
The Polygon network typically offers cheaper and faster transactions than Ethereum, according to documented petrol fees. On Polygon, transaction charges range from 0.1 to 0.5 MATIC, but on Ethereum, they range from $2.5 to $20 or comparable ETH. Depending on high transaction demand and network congestion, these figures can change dramatically.
5. Polygon vs Ethereum: Network Security & Decentralization
PoS consensus on Ethereum is thought to be safe and has more than 220,000 validators. As a result, the system is entirely decentralised.
However, Polygon's stateful design and hybrid PoS consensus process are also thought to be secure thanks to their 100 validators. Because the validators are dispersed over several organisations and geographical areas, this number set is nevertheless regarded as partially decentralised.
6. Polygon vs Ethereum: Interoperability
The capacity of various blockchain networks to interact and communicate with one another is known as interoperability.
Numerous alternative blockchain networks are being constructed on top of Ethereum, which has been a pioneer in this field. For the purpose of producing new tokens, the industry has adopted its ERC-20 standard.
Ethereum is also compatible with Polygon. Because of this, developers may transfer their current Ethereum-based dApps and tokens to Polygon with ease.
MATIC vs ETH: Market Cap and Tokenomics
ETH is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, behind Bitcoin, with a market capitalization of about USD 220 billion. In contrast, MATIC has a market capitalization of approximately USD 9 billion.
While MATIC has a circulating supply of 9.92 billion tokens, ETH has a maximum limit of 120.4 ETH. Tokens are released gradually over time through a process known as token release.
Polygon vs Ethereum: Use Cases
These use examples, which are available for each platform, can assist companies in making well-informed judgements regarding the blockchain development platform of choice.
Use Cases for Polygon
Esports and gaming:
The gaming sector is one of Polygon's most potential application cases. With its quick and affordable transactions, Polygon is a great option for in-game purchases and microtransactions, and many gaming firms have already begun to use it.
Financial Decentralisation (DeFi):
Polygon's design is appropriate for DeFi applications that need to transact at a faster and less expensive rate. Aave and Curve Finance, two well-known DeFi protocols, have already moved to Matic.
Use Cases for Ethereum
Applications Decentralised (DApps):
Ethereum has been used to create a wide range of cutting-edge applications, from prediction markets like Augur to decentralised exchanges (DEXs) and social media sites like Steemit.
Autonomous organisations that are decentralised (DAOs):
For decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), or organisations managed by code instead of people, Ethereum is the preferred platform. DAOs can be utilised for a wide range of tasks, including political campaign organisation and investment fund management.
Tokenization:
Numerous assets, including commodities, real estate, and other cryptocurrencies, have been tokenized using it.
Curve Finance has moved to Matic already.
What is Polygon (MATIC)?
A Layer 2 scaling platform called Polygon was created to improve Ethereum's scalability and efficiency as a blockchain network.
Its main goal is to combine Ethereum's main blockchain with several other blockchains, or "sidechains," in order to build a more efficient network. Every sidechain is customised to meet the unique requirements of different applications, and they can communicate with one another via the Polygon network.
In addition, the platform makes use of a number of scaling strategies, such as Rollups and Plasma, to increase throughput and reduce transaction costs.
Polygon and Hermez Network recently worked together to create Polygon zkEVM. It builds a highly scalable and secure network by fusing Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP).
What is Ethereum (ETH)?
Ethereum is a blockchain-based decentralised virtual machine that carries out smart contracts. With a thriving developer community, it serves a variety of uses, including supply chain management, identity verification, and DeFi.
It switched from PoW to PoS consensus techniques recently. This change can increase the network's scalability and lower its energy usage, increasing its sustainability and efficiency.
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