The Polygon network is native to Ethereum and designed to be compatible with all of its current and future infrastructure. Polygon provides a foundation for its interoperability with other layer-2 solutions, sovereign blockchains, and sidechains. Dubbed as the “Ethereum’s internet of blockchains”, Polygon’s primary mission is to aggregate scalable solutions that are crucial in supporting Ethereum’s multichain ecosystem. As a layer-2 aggregator, Polygon seeks to build a multichain ecosystem with enhanced interoperability of blockchains that are compatible with Ethereum.
How well do you know the Polygon Blockchain?
Ideally, A layer 2 network is a supplementary framework or protocol layered over an existing blockchain system. These protocols’ primary objective is to address the scaling and transaction speed issues experienced by the major blockchain networks. As a layer over the Ethereum network, Polygon enjoys the same security attainable on Ethereum. Polygon has its own Plasma implementation in the form of Polygon Plasma Chains. In addition to providing a foundation for dApps, Polygon Plasma Chains allow transactions to be offloaded from the primary blockchain into secondary chains to enable cheaper and faster transactions. This Polygon’s capability provides a simple foundation for new and current blockchain applications to develop on Ethereum without scalability limitations.
How Polygon differs from Ethereum and Solana
Polygon’s Distinction from Ethereum:
Ethereum is the largest Layer 1 blockchain in the world and heralds a decentralized, open source, and distributed computing network. This network powers the creation of thousands of decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts. In contrast, Polygon is a Layer 2 scaling solution built on top of Ethereum. The goal of the Polygon sidechain is to aid Ethereum’s growth in effectiveness, security, scale, and usability. Ethereum is currently a Proof of Work (PoW) blockchain with plans to transition to Proof of Stake with the launch of ETH 2.0. On the other hand, Polygon is purely a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus chain. As opposed to 12-25 TPS of Ethereum, Polygon is capable of processing up to 65,000 TPS. All this while offering seamless scalability and lower gas fees. It is interesting to note that Polygon is not a direct competitor to Ethereum.
Polygon’s Distinction from Solana
Unlike Polygon, Solana is a direct competitor to Ethereum. It is also a layer 1 blockchain that runs on a hybrid protocol of proof-of-stake (PoS) and proof-of-history (PoH). This provides developers with a unique platform to develop user-oriented applications. Solana can handle up to 50,000 transactions per second(TPS) which fall below Polygon’s 65,000 TPS. Over time Polygon has proven to be more resilient as a network compared to Solana. As it stands, Solana has suffered more network outages. In comparison, Polygon has closed several massive partnerships geared towards NFT integrations. This includes the likes of social media giants Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit.
Why Buy or Sell on Polygon NFT Marketplace?
Low Gass Fees: The many reasons that make Polygon one of the most suitable blockchain to buy and sell NFTs is also chiefly responsible for several of the mainstream integrations Polygon has achieved in the past several months. As a layer 2 blockchain with a robust, scalable infrastructure, Polygon’s standard gas fees are quite affordable. Currently, they sit at mostly less than $0.01 per transaction. Fast Transaction Finality: The term “transaction finality” describes the point at which all parties may see a transaction as having been successfully concluded. It is at this point, precisely, that a transaction that has been added to the blockchain cannot be changed or reversed. Polygon boost of a transaction finality of 2.1 seconds per transaction as against Ethereum’s finality of 1 minute. Home to thousands of NFTs: Due to the increased scalability of Polygon and several other advantages already outlined, the blockchain has attracted a great number of high-profile NFT projects. According to Dune Analytics, Polygon saw an all-time high of 2.68 million NFTs sold in January 2022 alone across various NFTs marketplace. Let’s now look at the popular Polygon NFT marketplaces.
Open Sea
Founded in 2017, OpenSea remains the world’s largest decentralized peer-to-peer exchange market for buying and selling NFTs. Users are able to conduct transactions with one another in an instantaneous, absolute, and trustless way. OpenSea, initially built for the Ethereum blockchain, now houses the largest Polygon NFT marketplace with record trading volume. OpenSea’s Polygon NFT marketplace is completely non-custodial; it leverages self-executing smart contracts to support platform transactions. This essentially guarantees fair trading. Either the parties don’t transact at all, or the transactions result in win-win scenarios for the buyer and seller — settling both parties. For each successful transaction, Opensea levies a 2.5 percent fee. While this may sound like a lot, OpenSea provides a cheaper transaction fee than most Polygon NFT marketplaces, some of which may charge as much as 5%.
Refinable
Refinable is a multichain decentralized marketplace that lowers users’ barriers to discovering, exploring, creating, and exchanging NFTs. The Refinable Marketplace is designed to offer users more freedom and flexibility when it comes to how they interact with NFTs. Refinable showcases NFTs created as a result of collaborations with renowned designers and other cryptocurrency projects. It presents well-known NFTs created by the Refinable community. It is interesting to note that Refinable ranks among the first Polygon NFT marketplace and have thus far been super innovative in its product offering. At present, the Refinable NFT marketplace charges 2.5% of the value of each NFT traded on the market.
Tofu NFT
TofuNFT is a Polygon NFT Marketplace previously known as the ‘SCV NFT marketplace’ and operates with the combination of DeFi and NFT marketplace features. The eventual rebrand to TofuNFT positioned it as an NFT-focused platform, crapping its DeFi features. The beta version was released in September 2021, and a complete version of the launch was launched later in the year. Both the fixed price and auction fragments allow users to profit from gas-free listings. Additionally, creators and collectors may buy and upload NFTs with price tags in a variety of currencies. TofuNFT is one of the few polygon NFT marketplaces that has proven to be innovative in many ways. The marketplace currently supports a variety of wallets, including MetaMask, Wallet Connect, TokenPocket, TrustWallet, imToken, SafePal, Math Wallet, and Coinbase Wallet.
PlayDapp
The PlayDapp MarketPlace is a C2C Polygon NFT marketplace where you can easily purchase and sell in-game NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and other digital assets based on the blockchain. The ecosystem is focused on rewarding and supporting gamers and developers. Since all PlayDapp games are compatible with one another, you may play a wide variety of games with your purchased NFTs. The goal of PlayDapp is to make it possible for everyone to access and benefit from digital assets. PlayDapp aims to bring more people into the world of cryptocurrency gaming by providing a platform for gamers to exchange digital collectibles and in-game assets.
Loot
Loot is one of the popular Polygon NFT marketplaces presently. Often described as the ultimate NFT marketplace for gaming NFTs, Loot is a hub for trading, buying, and exchanging gaming-related Non-Fungible-Tokens. Two sections make up the Polygon NFT Marketplace: Overall NFT Marketplaces without any link to Gamefi and NFTs of all kinds and the Specialized Marketplace built for specific video game projects that exclusively sell essential in-game assets. Loot charges a 5% commission on all of its NFT trades. A significant part of this commission goes back to the ecosystem users as community rewards.
Element
Element is a growing Polygon NFT marketplace used by many individuals. Element is built on three core pillars — creators, users, and community, to welcome a wide number of people into the NFTs market and encourage the integration between the regular market and the crypto economy. Element’s platform functionality consists primarily of three features: Create, Discover, and Exchange. When it comes to product design, Element considers all aspects of uploading, storing, and trading to create a user-friendly market environment for all users. Other key features of Element include the support for 4 mainstream decentralized storage, protection of creators’ rights, prohibition of malicious bot bidding, optimization of NFTs search, English Auction Gas Fee Subsidy, lowest transaction fees, and cross-chain interoperability.
NFTKey
NFTKey is a decentralized Polygon NFT marketplace. The platform officially debuted on March 26, 2021. With zero reliance on centralized servers, the platform enables you to trade, bet, buy, and sell NFT on Polygon and other compatible blockchains. To ensure maximum openness and accessibility, all of these actions and events are thoroughly documented on blockchain. NFTKey major features:
Stable market for high-quality artwork and designs.Availability of trusted NFT collection.Multichain support for NFT collectibles from Polygon, BSC, AVAX, ETH, and FTM.Support for a wide range of crypto wallets.
NFTrade
NFTrade is the first cross-chain cum blockchain-agnostic NFT platform. Anybody can easily create, buy, sell, swap, farm, and leverage NFTs across several blockchains thanks to NFTrade, which aggregates all NFT marketplaces and hosts the entire NFT lifecycle. In addition to other chains, NFTrade also provides support for the Polygon NFT marketplace, exposing users to a wide range of polygon-based NFTs. NFT project communities looking for a more interactive and community-focused platform can gain intrinsic value from NFTrade, which offers special value-added features like P2P swaps, NFT farming, multichain accessibility, and zero transaction fees. NFTrade introduces all the features lacking from most marketplaces and platforms in a single, user-friendly platform. For instance, escrowed NFT swapping is non-existent in most NFT marketplaces, forcing users to engage in risky OTC trading. This feature is available on NFTrade as a trustless P2P swapping.
AirNFTs
AirNFTs is a new NFT marketplace originally founded on the BNB Chain. Today it provides support for Polygon-based NFT marketplaces. The primary goal of AirNFTs is to fix the challenges with current NFT marketplaces. AirNFTs is on a mission to revolutionize the market for crypto collectibles by addressing the issues of inflated costs, prolonged wait times, and poor user experience. AirNFT has a reward system that rewards market participants — both content creators and NFT buyers. AirNFTs’ native token $AIRT is used to incentivize sellers and buyers on the platform.
Treasureland
Treasureland is a multichain NFT issuance and trading platform that enables users to buy effortlessly, trade, or auction NFTs and mint NFTs with just one click. The Treasureland NFT market was reportedly created by some developers from DEGO project. In addition to BNB Chain, Treasureland also provides support for Polygon NFT marketplace and allows users to connect from their favorite wallets, including Metamask, SafePal, Math wallet, Trust Wallet, ONTO wallet, and Token Pocket.
Concluding Thoughts
Polygon continues to establish itself as the go-to layer 2 blockchain for all NFTs. Thanks mainly to the several advantages its blockchain has over other network infrastructures. As more and more people enter the cryptocurrency world, the congestion experienced on well-known networks like Ethereum has led users to highly scalable ecosystems such as Polygon as they seek solutions on fast, gas-friendly networks. Needless to say that the instability and network outages experienced on popular blockchains like Solana have also influenced users to embrace the Polygon NFT marketplace globally. With this current growth trajectory, Polygon is on track to become the go-to blockchain for many upcoming NFT collections.
