As the popularity of Ethereum and decentralized applications continues to grow, the network has faced scalability issues with its current capacity of only 13-15 transactions per second (TPS). This has led to heavy network congestion and high gas fees. One solution to this problem is the use of layer 2 scaling solutions, such as Polygon.
Polygon, formerly known as Matic Network, is a layer 2 scaling solution that utilizes off-chain computation to achieve high throughput. The Polygon mainnet, which has recently launched, boasts a capacity of 10,000 TPS. Additionally, the Mumbai testnet has been used to showcase the potential of Polygon's technology.
One of the key features of Polygon is the use of a Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism, similar to Ethereum's Beacon Chain. This allows for staking, checkpointing, and rewards for validators. The Heimdall Layer is a PoS mechanism that also has checkpointing capabilities, ensuring that any particular checkpoint state is authentic.
The Bor Layer is responsible for adding new blocks to the Matic chain, with every block having its own block hash. The Heimdall chain acts as a PoS Verification Layer, with checkpointing of BOR block representations and the sending of Merkle Root to the Ethereum Blockchain. The Polygon PoS Engine handles the selection of validators, using a staking logic similar to that of the Ethereum Mainnet.
Checkpointing occurs every 10-20 minutes, and to become a validator on the Polygon network, one must run a Tendermint node. For every few BOR blocks, one validator (on the Heimdall Layer) is chosen to validate all blocks since the last checkpoint, creating a Merkle tree of the block hashes. These checkpointed blocks provide finality on the root chain, as well as proof of burn in asset withdrawal.
Polygon also enables seamless transfer of tokens between the Ethereum mainnet and the Polygon mainnet, allowing for the transfer of not only coins but also other assets. The use of Polygon can greatly improve the scalability and usability of the Ethereum network, and its SDK for mobile apps and matic.js library make it easy for developers to build Polygon-based apps.
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