Recently, I’ve been reviewing discussions in the Chinese community about Matic, and I’ve found that many people still have a somewhat fuzzy understanding of the Polygon project. Rather than saying Matic is a competitor, it’s more accurate to see it as a strong assistant to Ethereum; this positioning is actually quite interesting.

Back in 2017, an Indian team created Matic Network, with the core goal of solving Ethereum’s pain points at the time—high transaction fees, slow speeds, and network congestion. Later, it upgraded to Polygon, becoming a multi-chain framework that supports various sidechains and Layer 2 solutions. Simply put, Matic is the native token on the Polygon chain, similar to ETH’s role on Ethereum.

Looking at the data comparison, it’s easy to understand why more and more Chinese investors are interested in Matic. Ethereum’s transaction costs often exceed $2, while on Polygon, it’s only $0.1 to $0.5. The transaction speed is even more impressive—Ethereum processes 20-40 transactions per second, while the testnet for Polygon can reach 6,000 to 10,000 transactions. This kind of difference has indeed attracted a large number of developers and users to migrate.

On the technical side, Polygon has launched multiple scaling solutions such as Plasma framework, Rollups, zkRollups, and Optimistic Rollups, which are industry-leading. Moreover, it is compatible with almost all Ethereum applications, and this ecosystem compatibility allows developers to deploy without re-developing.

However, we also need to face reality. Polygon relies on Ethereum’s security; if the mainnet encounters issues, sidechains will be affected as well. Additionally, Matic is mainly used for blockchain payment settlements and is not suitable for daily consumption.

From an investment perspective, Polygon has been expanding over the past two years. Companies like Stripe, Reddit, Adidas, and Starbucks have partnered with it, and even Indian police use it to report crimes. According to data from Token Terminal, Polygon’s daily active users once exceeded Ethereum’s, reaching 345,000. Its market cap ranking has also risen to the top 13.

Regarding price trends, Matic has been rising since its development began in 2017, surging from $0.8 to a historical high of $2.45 in 2021. In 2022, due to economic downturns and Federal Reserve rate hikes, it dropped to $0.38. Moving into 2026, although cryptocurrency adoption is increasing, regulatory uncertainties still exist. Currently, the price is around $0.18, still some distance from previous forecasts.

In the long term, as long as Polygon continues to expand its application scenarios, Matic’s development potential remains. But in the short term, a significant rally may not be seen; the market is still digesting various uncertainties. If you’re interested, you can research projects within the Polygon ecosystem to see if there are any worthwhile opportunities. Investing in cryptocurrencies inherently carries risks, so doing proper research and risk management is key.