- Polygon Labs has unveiled the MATIC to POL migration date.
- The first phase of the POL token upgrade will see its functions limited to Polygon PoS.
- Holders may have to act to migrate their tokens depending on where and how they hold them.
Over the past year, Polygon Labs has unveiled a new roadmap to adopt an aggregated chain architecture to infinitely scale Ethereum by horizontally connecting as many chains as possible on top of the Layer 1. In line with this new roadmap, the team has outlined plans for the Polygon network to undergo several massive changes, including upgrading its token to better serve the envisioned multichain ecosystem.
After months of anticipation, the team has unveiled the date for this token mainnet migration as September 4. Find out what this migration entails and how it affects you.
What the Polygon MATIC to POL Migration Is About
The POL migration, scheduled for September 4, marks the first phase in MATIC’s planned evolution to becoming what Polygon Labs has described as a “hyperproductive token” that holders would be to stake to validate transactions across multiple chains in Polygon’s aggregated blockchain network and earn rewards across them.
This first phase of this evolution, however, would simply see POL replace MATIC as the native gas and staking token for the Polygon Proof-of-Stake network.
For the uninitiated, beyond using a different ticker, POL mainly differs from MATIC in the sense that it is inflationary. While MATIC has a capped 10 billion token supply, POL will inflate by 2% yearly, a move made to allow the token scale to serve an infinite number of chains.
So, how does the planned September 4 migration affect you?
What You Need To Do to Migrate Your MATIC to POL
What you must do to migrate your MATIC token to POL depends on where and how you hold your tokens.
MATIC Holders on Polygon PoS
According to Polygon developers, if you hold your MATIC on Polygon PoS, you will not need any action to migrate your token, as your tokens will be automatically upgraded. That said, you will likely have to update the RPC settings to reflect the ticker change in your wallet. In MetaMask, for example, all you have to do is go to settings and then networks; here, all you have to do is to replace “MATIC” in the “Currency symbol” field with “POL.”
MATIC Holders on Ethereum
For MATIC holders on Ethereum, you can migrate to POL using the token migration contract on Etherscan. If you are, however, not familiar with interacting directly with smart contracts, Polygon Labs suggests that you simply swap your MATIC tokens for POL through a decentralized exchange aggregator of your choice.
MATIC Holders on Polygon zkEVM
MATIC holders on Polygon zkEVM can migrate their tokens to POL in two ways: either by bridging to Ethereum and then using the migration contract or swapping using a local DEX.
MATIC Holders on Centralized Exchanges
For MATIC holders on centralized exchanges, it is worth noting that each exchange will likely have its guidelines for the POL migration. However, it is unlikely that you would have to take any action.
Ahead of the September 4 mainnet upgrade, Polygon Labs has launched the POL upgrade on testnet to allow users and developers to familiarize themselves with the migration process.
On the Flipside
- Following the mainnet upgrade, there is no deadline for MATIC holders whose tokens are not automatically upgraded to migrate their tokens.
- POL’s full functionality will likely only come sometime in 2025 when Polygon’s multichain staking layer goes live.
Why This Matters
POL has been tipped to fuel and play a key role in securing Polygon’s aggregated architecture. The recently unveiled migration date suggests that this vision is coming closer to becoming a reality.
Read this for more on Polygon’s POL token upgrade:
How Polygon’s MATIC to POL Upgrade Unlocks the Polygon 2.0 Vision
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