Like Ethereum, Polygon goes to the stake with the arrival of EIP-1559

Since last August 2021, the improvement proposal EIP-1559 is active on Ethereum and a part of the network fees is burned with each transaction. For a few hours now, the Polygon side chain has also incorporated this methodology.

EIP-1559 proposes a change in the fee payment scheme in each transaction. These, now, are divided into two parts: a base fee that is burned and a tip that goes to the miners (or validators, in the case of Polygon, which uses proof of stake).

Incorporation into Polygon is expected to bring at least three major benefits to users and application developers. One of them is the predictability in fare prices. It is worth noting that these are usually a few cents or even less, since it is one of the cheapest blockchains.

Another advantage is for programmers. The Polygon team explains: “Developers will get a boost by having all of their Ethereum tools running smoothly and facing minimal adverse effects.” It is that, with the incorporation of the EIP-1559 the sidechain becomes more similar, in its operation, to the Ethereum mainnet.

Finally, there is a change that will be especially beneficial for holders (long-term investors) of the network’s native cryptocurrency, MATIC. From now on, it becomes deflationary.

The maximum supply of MATIC is 10 billion units. Now, with each block validated, this number will be reduced. According to the postulates of the law of supply and demand, if the demand for MATIC increases and the supply decreases, the price of the cryptocurrency will tend to rise.

At the time of writing this article, cada MATIC cotiza a USD 2,16. The coin is in 13th place in the ranking by market capitalization and its maximum price, reached on December 27, was USD 2.92.

EIP-1559 was activated today, January 18, 2022 at 2:48 AM (UTC) on the block 23850000. Since then, the PolygonScan block explorer adds the “burnt fees” section. There you can see how much MATIC is burned in each block.

Polygon, a place to shelter from Ethereum fees

As CriptoNoticias has reported, the Polygon sidechain has become a favorite network for decentralized application users and developers fleeing the Ethereum mainnet due to high fees.

The Polygon ecosystem includes applications initially developed on Ethereum, such as the PoolTogether lottery, the 1inch exchange, and the Aave lending platform.

Unlike other forks and sidechains that present themselves as competition to Ethereum (for example, the Binance Smart Chain), the Polygon team made the decision to provide a mainnet friendly narrative. Far from seeking to compete, they indicate that they are a scalability solution to decongest the blockchain. And the market agrees with that strategy.