Although the market downturn has somewhat slowed, the effects are still amplified within the altcoin market. MATIC, Polygon’s native token, has suffered greatly from the recent bearish market sentiment that spread within the past couple of days.
According to CoinGecko, MATIC has fallen 18% since last week, marking a big slash on the token’s upward trajectory. Despite MATIC’s poor performance in the last couple of days, Polygon continues to innovate, cementing its position within the crypto community.
Polygon Releases New Details About Network Upgrade
According to Polygon’s official X post, the MATIC upgrade to POL will yield benefits, including new features that improve the network’s usability and security. One of the most notable addition to the network is the inclusion of new roles for validators, improving upon the network’s incentives for the latter while also creating motivation for broader on-chain participation.
POL goes beyond the traditional and introduces the concept of a hyperproductive token — enhancing utility, scalability, and productivity across the Polygon network.
What this means as the network transitions from MATIC to POL, for an aggregated blockchain network pic.twitter.com/TzrFtuA4ra
— Polygon | Aggregated (@0xPolygon) August 26, 2024
The upgrade will enable validators to secure multiple chains, which enhances the overall security and efficiency of the network. It also improves Polygon on the scalability aspect as once it attracts more validators on the platform, more chains can be secured in one go fostering a new era of improved user experience.
POL will also be used to fund on-chain projects with a controlled emission schedule.
“With a controlled emission schedule and a portion of rewards directed to the Community Treasury, POL supports ongoing development, funding grants, and initiatives to ensure long-term growth,” said Polygon within their thread.
MATIC holders can expect the upgrade to be seamless and automatic on the Polygon Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network. However, holders of Ethereum and centralized exchanges (CEXs) may take some action before the upgrade is applied to their wallet as some dApps may integrate the upgrade smart contract with their user interface.
Downward Trajectory May Halt On $0.43, Stabilizing Within The Coming Weeks
As of writing, MATIC’s downward trajectory forced the token to touch $0.43 in the short term as the bears continue to wreak havoc in the market. This price floor might be broken through by the bears within the coming days, which brings a host of new problems for investors in the long term.
However, with the market’s bearishness grinding to a halt, the relative strength index remaining stable might enable the bulls to regain lost ground in the coming days. That is if the market sentiment flips to bullish.
If bullishness does return to the market, MATIC may see a renewed September rally as the market environment improves. Its high correlation with Bitcoin will also bode well for the token as any swing made by the prime cryptocurrency will enable MATIC bulls to eye $0.55 in the medium term.
Featured image from Welona, chart from TradingView
