Polygon’s focus on building L2 infrastructure outweighs MATIC’s 50% drop from ATH

Published at: March 10, 2022

After a devastating 50% correction between Dec. 25 and Jan. 25, Polygon (MATIC) has been struggling to sustain the $1.40 support. While some argue this top-15 coin has merely adjusted after a 16,200% gain in 2021, others point to competing scaling solutions growth.

Either way, Polygon (MATIC) remains 50.8% below its all-time high at an $11 billion market capitalization. Currently, the market cap of Terra (LUNA) stands at $37 billion, Solana (SOL) is above $26 billion, and Avalanche (AVAX) is at a $19 billion market value.

A positive note is that Polygon raised $450 million on Feb. 7, and the funding round was backed by some of blockchain’s most considerable venture funds, including Sequoia Capital.

Polygon offers scaling and infrastructure support to Ethereum Virtual Machine-based (EVM) decentralized applications. Besides, it is not plagued by the high transaction fees and network congestion that impact the Ethereum network.

However, as Proof-of-Stake layer-1 networks emerged and offered low-cost smart contract capabilities, it vastly increased the competition for Ethereum network decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible token minting, marketplaces, crypto games, gambling, and social applications.

In comparison, Terra’s total value locked increased by 340% between July and December 2021, reaching $12.6 billion. Similarly, Avalanche’s smart contracts deposits increased from $185 million to $11.11 billion in the same period.

The use of Polygon’s scaling solution is declining

Polygon’s primary DApp metric started to display weakness in August 2021 after the network‘s TVL dropped below 4 billion MATIC.

The chart above shows how Polygon‘s DApp deposits peaked at 7.4 billion MATIC in July 2021, then drastically declined over the next couple of months. In dollar terms, the current $3.5 billion TVL is the lowest number since May 2021. These figures represent less than 5% of the aggregate TVL (excluding Ethereum), according to DefiLlama data.

Another positive is that on March 9, Ankr, a multi-chain toolkit for blockchain infrastructure, enabled a token bridge between Ethereum and Polygon. The first release will allow the aMATICb liquid staking token to be sent and stored. This enables users to earn additional layers of rewards on DeFi platforms.

To confirm whether the TVL drop in Polygon is troublesome, one should analyze DApp usage metrics. Some DApps such as games and collectibles do not require large deposits, so the TVL metric is irrelevant in those cases.

As shown by DappRadar, on March 10 the number of Polygon network addresses interacting with decentralized applications grew by 5% versus the previous month. Even though Polygon’s TVL has been hit the hardest compared to similar smart contract platforms, there is solid network use in the gaming sector, as measured by Crazy Defense Heroes’ 199,260 active addresses in the last 30 days.

On Nov. 16, Polygon launched its zk-STARK-powered Miden Virtual Machine, a zero-knowledge Scalable Transparent ARgument of Knowledge. Polygon has also committed over $1 billion for developing complex DeFi applications that need sensitive information redacted on digitized assets, reducing their size for fast verification by blockchain participants.

The above data suggest that Polygon is holding ground versus competing chains, and those holders might not worry too much about MATIC’s 50% price correction. Polygon’s ecosystem continues to flourish, and the fact that it offers much demanded layer-2 scaling solutions for multiple industries can be viewed as a bullish factor.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Tags
Nft
Related Posts
What are the best altcoins you can buy for under $3? | Find out now on The Market Report
“The Market Report” with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss the best altcoins to buy for under $3. But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down. Next up: the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as they discuss the best altcoins to buy for under $3. First up, we have Bourgi with his first pick of …
Decentralization / March 29, 2022
Which tokens should you buy and hodl in 2022? | Find out now on The Market Report live
“The Market Report” with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss which tokens you should buy and hodl in 2022. But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down. Next up, the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as they debate which tokens you should buy and hodl right now. Will it be Bourgi’s picks? He has selected …
Decentralization / March 15, 2022
3 reasons why Polygon (MATIC) is up 100%+ during a bear market
Unlike bull markets where traders can basically throw a dart at a list of coins to pick one that will go up, bear markets require much more effort to find projects that could perform well over the long-run. One project that has continued to show signs of mainstream adoption despite the onset of a crypto winter is Polygon (MATIC), a layer-2 scaling solution for the Ethereum (ETH) network that is looking to build a sustainable Web3 infrastructure on the top smart contract platform. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $0.316 on June …
Blockchain / July 14, 2022
Altcoin Roundup: 3 P2E games that don't need Ethereum to make waves
The rise of blockchain-based play-to-earn (P2E) gaming was one of the leading stories in 2021 as games such as Axie Infinity exploded in popularity and players realized that they could make life-changing amounts of money while also having fun. According to data from Footprint Analytics, the Ethereum network remains the leader when it comes to the number of games launched on-chain, but persistently high fees and network congestion have pushed a growing number of players to layer-2, cross-chain, bridge-supporting networks and competing blockchains that offer lower-cost transactions costs. Here’s a look at a few non-Ethereum blockchain networks that are gaining …
Adoption / Feb. 11, 2022
What are the most bullish cryptocurrencies to buy right now? | Find out now on The Market Report
The Market Report with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss what they believe are the top three most bullish coins one should take a closer look at. But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down. Next up: the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as each makes his case for the most bullish cryptocurrency right now. …
Decentralization / May 3, 2022