Looking back to 2019, when Ethereum was still using the Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism, many people purchased specialized equipment to participate in mining. At that time, although daily mining profits were considerable, the high Gas fees became a major obstacle, often swallowing most of the profits.

In this context, Polygon (then known as Matic) emerged as a low-cost alternative for miners. It not only significantly reduced transaction fees but also brought more convenience to users.

Over time, Polygon has continuously evolved, gradually developing from an initial sidechain solution into a fully-featured, high-performance blockchain platform. Today, Polygon is transitioning into a true Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution, with its Polygon 2.0 and zkEVM projects at the core of this strategy.

The latest hard fork upgrade further enhances Polygon's performance: transaction confirmation time is reduced to 5 seconds, the transaction volume (TPS) is increased to over a thousand per second, Gas fees are lower, and it even preemptively supports Ethereum's new proposal (EIP-7702). These improvements make the user experience comparable to that of the Ethereum mainnet.

The core feature of Polygon 2.0—AggLayer—is a groundbreaking innovation. It aims to integrate various blockchains (including L1, L2, and application chains) to achieve seamless cross-chain interaction. This means that transactions will be finalized within 5 seconds, assets can maintain their native identity without wrapping, supporting atomic cross-chain transactions completed in one step, and consolidating all liquidity together, effectively addressing the fragmentation issue.

The development trajectory of Polygon is astonishing. It has gradually evolved from a tool that helps miners save costs to one of the most important scaling engines in the Ethereum ecosystem. This transformation not only reflects advancements in technology but also showcases the limitless possibilities of the blockchain industry. As Polygon continues to drive innovation, we can expect to see more exciting developments that will have a profound impact on the entire blockchain ecosystem.