A Beginner's Guide to Staking on Polygon

Polygon Scaling Solutions

MATIC: The Fuel for the Polygon Ecosystem

Staking MATIC on Polygon

Where To Buy MATIC?

If you are interested in investing in the Binance and Coinbase-backed Layer 2 solution Polygon, which aims to resolve the scalability issue of blockchains, you can buy some MATIC tokens.

Once you have chosen the exchange, you must create an account and complete the know-your-customer (KYC) procedure. The exchange will approve your KYC within 24-48 hours, depending upon the new signups they are seeing. Once you receive an email about KYC approval, it's time to fund your account. You can add funds to your wallet either via bank transfers or credit cards. As soon as you receive funds in your account, enter the amount of MATIC tokens you want to buy, and set the price you want to pay per token. Now, click the "buy" button, and you will have your MATIC tokens in your wallet.

MATIC is also available on popular DEXes like Uniswap and Balancer for advanced users to buy it with wrapped Ethereum (WETH).

Given the congestion and high transaction fees on popular networks like Ethereum, Polygon is a great opportunity to benefit from the booming and exciting world of DeFi and NFTs.

How To Transfer MATIC to Ethereum Wallets Like Metamask?

You have to start by logging in to your MetaMask wallet and selecting "Settings" from the drop-down menu option in the top right corner.

Then, scroll down and locate the Networks tab. Further scrolling will get you to the "Add Network" button. Click it.

Here, you have to fill in the following information for the MATIC mainnet to add the MATIC network to your wallet.

Network Name: MATIC Mainnet

ChainID: 137

Currency Symbol: MATIC

Just remember to click on Save after entering the setting. Now, you'll be directly switched to Polygon's Mainnet. You can now close the dialog.

How To Bridge Ethereum Assets to Polygon?

With the number of blockchains in the cryptocurrency space rising rapidly, sharing data and crypto assets between different networks has become challenging. But to tackle this problem, many projects have built bridges between networks to facilitate asset transfers.

Polygon has introduced a Polygon Bridge, a trustless cross-chain transaction channel to deposit and withdraw assets between different networks.

So, how do you bridge Ethereum assets to Polygon so you can enjoy its fastest speed and cheap fees?

First, you would need a crypto wallet like MetaMask to bridge tokens from Ethereum to Polygon. Then, log in to the Polygon Web Wallet by clicking Polygon Bridge, which will prompt you to connect your crypto wallet.

As you click "Sign" to proceed, you will be redirected to the Polygon Bridge interface, and if not, you can select "Bridge" on the left menu bar.

To send your tokens from Ethereum to Polygon:

1. Go to the "Deposit" tab.
2. Once there, click on the token name to choose the token to bridge.
3. Enter the amount and click "Transfer."

Once you have read the important notes, click "Continue." Now, you'll also see the estimated gas fee and if you are ok with it, click "Continue" to proceed. Review your transaction details before clicking "Continue."

You'll then be prompted to sign and approve the transfer in your MetaMask wallet. Check the details and click "Confirm."

Once confirmed, wait for the tokens to arrive in your Polygon wallet. You can also check on Etherscan to see your transaction status.

How To Stake MATIC?

Now that you own MATIC, you can also put these tokens to use and earn passive income on them by staking.

Clicking on it will prompt you to connect your wallet like MetaMask. Besides Metamask, Polygon also supports Coinbase Wallet, Bitski Wallet, Venly and WalletConnect. Once the wallet is unlocked, select the account where you store MATIC tokens, and click Next.

Then you have to Connect to the Polygon web wallet and sign the request to allow it to make transactions from your MetaMask wallet. Just click Sign.

Now, you need to select a validator to delegate your tokens. As you choose a validator, you'll get all the information about how much commission you need to pay.

To delegate your tokens:

1. Enter the amount for staking and just click Continue.
2. Allow Polygon Wallet to make transactions from your wallet, and in your MetaMask, click Confirm.
3. Once you have paid the gas fees, confirm the transaction.

That's it! Delegation is complete, and now you will start to receive your staking rewards.

Staking Rewards for MATIC

Staking Rewards Calculator

Polygon allocates 12% of its total supply of 10 billion tokens to fund its staking rewards program. To date, Polygon has garnered a global validators base of 100, where more than 14,300 delegators have participated with the total stake reaching a volume of US$4.5 billion. The volume of total rewards distributed has been nearly US$824 million.

The Matic Bridge

Polygon Yield Farming

Polygon farming incentivizes liquidity irrespective of the farm one chooses. All one needs to do is deposit funds in a liquidity pool. It implies that you will be submitting two currencies in one pool at a 50:50 ratio. There are several tools to check the list of farms available on Polygon.

Polygon NFT

Curve Polygon Dynamics

Acquiring Matic to pay for transaction fees on Curve Finance is a lucrative proposition as it is very cheap. Users may still need MATIC to pay for gas fees. One can also use the bridge to leverage Ethereum. Once done correctly, it is also possible to bridge USDC/DAI and deposit and swap on the Curve Polygon Website.

PolygonScan

Latest Onboardings

Bloxroute, a Blockchain Distribution Network, has been introduced to Polygon. It is a network solution that facilitates web3.0 scalability for blockchain projects. The result is higher throughput and faster transactions.

Star graph, the first Monza Circuit NFTs collection to engage Formula 1 fans interactively and intuitively, has made its launch on Polygon. Over time, Polygon has emerged as the go-to scaling platform, enabling fans to immerse themselves in their passion for NFTs. It has more than 300 NFT DApps in its ecosystem, including Opensea, Aavegotchi, Zed Run, Neon District, Megacryptopolis and more.

The Importance of Polygon in the Blockchain Space

There are several reasons why Polygon has gained such a high level of traction in the blockchain space in a short span. One of the foremost is its Ethereum compatibility. There are several ways by which users or participants can leverage the network to help Ethereum scale. One can choose to engage as a developer, and for these types of users, there is no dearth of material, including guides, documents, tutorials, or SDKs. Otherwise, one can also choose to become a validator or delegator for the Polygon PoS chain and secure the network.

As cited earlier, dedicated blockchains, scalable consensus algorithms, and a custom Wasm execution environment already keep Polygon ahead in the scalability race. Apart from its live or in-development solutions, Polygon also has the Nightfall solution on the Testnet. The Polygon Nightfall is a one-of-a-kind scaling solution that leverages optimistic roll-ups following Zero-Knowledge cryptography.

Polygon also scores high on the security aspect. The modular ‘security as a service’ solution, coming from Ethereum or a pool of professional validators, helps keep it secure. Finally, the ease of development qualities of the Polygon Network is quite unmatchable. Its developer experience is equivalent to Ethereum. One does not need a protocol-level language to work around Polygon. Moreover, it is free from the entry barriers relating to token deposits, fees, or permissions.

Polygon has a robust community backing it. The network has 1.2 million followers on its official Twitter handle. Its crypto ecosystem is similarly expansive and quite all-encompassing. It has more than 440 DeFi protocols in its compatibility list. Moreover, it has nearly 50 DApps and over 300 NFTs. It also supports 150 gaming projects, nearly 100 infrastructure projects, 35 Metaverse projects, and more than 50 DAOs in the supported list. There is hardly any other crypto player that can match such a robust solution and user community.