Polygon aims to give people numerous choices when they create dApp
on Polygon. Some developers keep security over speed while others compromise on
security for lowered fees and speed – the technology is building multiple
Ethereum-centric scaling solutions to address all these different features.
Ethereum has remained a pillar in the cryptocurrency space. Right
from DeFi to smart contracts and
even NFTs, Ethereum has remained one of the key innovations of
Web3. However, inspite of the glaring success, the technology has struggled
with massive network congestion, high network fees, and lowering transaction
throughput – factors that have created a scope for newer crypto projects coming
in to scale it. Polygon is one such project.
Originated in 2017, India-based software company Polygon
Technology scales Ethereum without sacrificing on its decentralization
benefits. With the number of dApps on Polygon having reached
53,000, businesses are using the technology’s low fees and fast speed to
build Ethereum-powered dApps.
In this article, we
are going to look into the different facets of Polygon and what makes the
technology better than using Ethereum for dApps development.
How does the Polygon
dApp builder work?
Polygon is a Layer
2 scaling solution that enables developers to build dApps on Ethereum without
getting stuck with Ethereum’s limitations.
How it does that is by developing a layer 2 solution using
off-chain on-chain concepts and different governance models like Proof of
Stake, which helps the network lower its energy footprint by 99.95% – one
which Etherum has also reached after The Merge. In addition
to using a PoS architecture where the network participants stake MATIC for
validating the transactions, Polygon enables developers to use its open source
SDK to launch their Polygon dApp at the back of multiple scaling techniques:
ZK-Rollups: The ethereum-based technology acquired a zero-knowledge (ZK)
protocol developer, Mir, for USD 400 million. What this protocol does is
it enables transaction authenticators to validate the encrypted data without
actually accessing the information enabling them to generate the verification
proof in under 170 milliseconds.
Optimistic Rollups: It consists of bundling several off-chain transactions into
massive batches before submitting them in Ethereum. This way, the fixed costs
get spread across multiple transactions that reduce the end-user fees. In
essence, this scaling technique assumes off-chain transactions validity without
pushing out validity proofs for the on-chain transaction batches by following a
fraud-proving methodology to identify transactions having discrepancies.
Plasma Chains: This scaling technique builds a child-parent relationship in
Ethereum’s main chain. For example, the plasma chains can deploy their own
dApps on Polygon which comes in handy when the other sidechains get hacked or
are down. Additionally, the plasma chains tend to deliver off-chain
transactions at higher efficiency levels.
At the back of
these scaling methods, while the answer to how much time does it take to build
dApp on Polygon is same as that on Ethereum or other blockchain technology, the
transaction speed and cost difference is unmatched.
Features
of Polygon for dApp development
The technology
merges the capabilities of sovereign blockchains and Ethereum into an
attractive feature set that helps developers build a decentralized app on
Polygon that is highly efficient, scalable, and speedy.
Ethereum compatibility
When you build dApp
on Polygon you work on a platform with complete Ethereum compatibility to tech
stack, languages, standards, and tools.
High scalability
The technology is
built on dedicated blockchains, a scalable consensus algorithm, and a
customized Wasm execution environment.
Competitive network Greater security
Polygon dApp
development is built on a modular “security as a service” facility offered
either by Ethereum or a pool or validators.
Interoperability
The technology
comes with a native support for the arbitrary messaging passing bridges for
external systems and can easily connect with Ethereum main chain using the
bridging SDKs polygon offers.
Good user experience
When you build dApp
on Polygon it is very similar to one on Web2 purely at the back of a facility
like instantaneous transaction finality.
Modularity
Polygon comes with
high extensibility, customization, upgradability, community collaboration, and
a short time-to-market.
These features of
Polygon for dApp development are designed to bring the technology at par with
the adoption of Ethereum minus all the limitations of the latter. This makes it
profitable for developers and enterprises alike to build a decentralized app on
Polygon.
Amidst these
feature sets and the obvious benefits of Polygon for dApp development, is it
time to let go of Ethereum? And on a technological level, what difference does
Ethereum hold from Polygon dApp development?
Creating dApps on Polygon vs Ethereum
While The Merge
moved Ethereum from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, bringing down its 112 TWh
of energy consumption down to 0.01 TWh, the technology is where Polygon already
is.
The Merge
however, didn’t change the high variable transaction cost that Ethereum comes
with – a factor that Polygon addresses on a massive extent. In addition to
this, the transaction processing speed has also remained unchanged, which in
case of Polygon dApps development is only 65,000 transactions per second at
the back of the Layer 2 scalability solution.
While Polygon’s popularity is on a fast rise, there are some
issues that are still prevalent in the technology. For understanding Polygon to
its entirety, it is critical to know the limitations it comes attached with.
Let us give a brief look at them:
- Ethereum Dependency: Ethereum lies
at the center of Polygon’s ecosystem as its settlement layer. This has
resulted in Polygon being completely dependent on Ethereum for its
operations.
- Under Development: Presently,
Polygon comes with Matic POS Chains and Matic Plasma as scaling solutions.
Other scaling solutions such as Optimistic Rollups, zk Rollups,
Sidechains, Validum Chains, and Enterprise Chains, etc. are still in their
developmental stages with an unsurety around when they would be live.
- Matic Plasma Chains: Polygon
plasma chains can only be used for a limited set of use cases.
Comparatively, POS Chains are a lot more famous since they offer greater
user experiences and flexibility when compared to Matic Plasma.
- Competition: There are a number
of scaling solutions such as Solana, Cosmos, Polkadot, etc. which are
gaining steady momentum. They are making use of Ethereum and other
blockchains to offer better user experience. Amidst this, we might see
other solutions coming up and taking Polygon’s market share.
With everything we
have covered up until this point, one thing is clear – even though the
technology has some limitations which need to be addressed, the benefits of
Polygon for dApp development are unignorable. However, for an entrepreneur what
is necessary is to know the use cases on which they can create dApp on Polygon.
The use cases to build dApp on Polygon
The biggest reason why dApp development service providers
like Appinventiv choose Polygon is the fact that the end product is the same as
what results from Ethereum app development but the customer experience is much
greater. So while the businesses get the same Ethereum-powered app, their users
get an innovative user experience, higher lowered transaction speed, and
minimal transaction fees.
Payments: Polygon platform is engineered to create dApps that speed up
the payment process, powering almost real-time payment settlement via
specialized API and SDK integration. This enables apps, users, and merchants to
instantly perform transactions through multiple cryptocurrencies, usually
through the ETH or ERC-20 tokens. This system is being rolled out in three
distinct phases: 1. ERC-20 token payments 2. Token transfer in cross-chain 3.
Fiat-based payment models.
Lending Platform: The next use case to consider when you build dApp on Polygon
is creating a module that would enable lenders to analyze users credit ratings
and building a smart contract that would automate the loan disbursement
journey.
Games: The Layer 2 sidechain scaling solution of Polygon makes blockchain-based gaming platform development efficient
and fast. With Ethereum and Polygon working together, the platform will be able
to address the lag issues that non-Polygon blockchain games face.
Other Use Cases: There are a range of other use cases to consider when you
build a decentralized app on Polygon such as enabling fast settlement times
required for decentralized exchanges to provide faster and cheaper trading.
Additionally, most of the dApps require a method to sign
transactions without submitting in the users’ private keys details. On the back
of its scalability enhancements, the technology helps in enabling an open
identity framework for the dApp, thus solving the privacy issue.
These use cases are
only a surface-level explanation of why businesses should develop dApp on
Polygon. There are a range of other applications that can be built on Polygon.
Ultimately, even
though Polygon dApps are built upon Ethereum, there are some very critical
differences between them, specifically in transaction speed and cost. Such
costly gas fees and slow transactions can lead to poor user experience that
would leave a negative impact on the platform’s adoption. On this note, it
makes better business sense to select Polygon, thanks to its ability to back
faster transactions and lowered gas fees.
At Appinventiv, it is our constant endeavor to think about our
clients’ customers first and this is the reason why we make dApp on Polygon.
Using the technology we have built a range of decentralized apps right from a crypto wallet app to a DeFi exchange all promising a
positive customer experience.