Polygon, India’s very own offering to the blockchain market, has officially crossed the $10 billion market cap as of last week. It has been rising since, and has now reached an impressive value of $13 billion.
The digital currency, which was the brainchild of three Indians, has officially joined the list of the Top 20 Crypto Tokens globally, according to a report by Coinmarketcap.com, the global leader on information regarding market prices of different crypto.
Polygon was known as Matic Network when it first made its debut, and has rapidly been climbing up the ladder in terms of market value, since February. The major reason for the same is the country becoming more open to crypto and blockchain, and the growing relevance of these tokens, especially for gamers, and in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs, a unique form of crypto wherein collectible tokens are available, with each token being a completely different entity from the rest), which recently joined the Polygon ecosystem.
Polygon made its entry into Coinbase back in March, following a surge in values. Speaking on the growth in value, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal expressed his views, saying, “Growth has been significant. Some part of it is speculation—as with any cryptocurrency— but we have also expanded our vision and scope of work. A combination of real-world application and user adoption has had a snowball effect.”
The blockchain has been based off Ethereum (owned by Vitalik Buterin, who recently made headlines for becoming the world’s you gest crypto billionaire, and making a significant donation to India’s COVID battle, in the form of crypto). As many as nearly four hundreds applications have been developed so far, and the number has seen a major hike between January and May, rising by around eight fold.
Now, Polygon’s founders aim to become world leaders in the cryptocurrency market, and to turn India into a force to be reckoned with, when it comes to blockchain. The plan is to be in the same league as world crypto leaders Ethereum and Bitcoin, possibly as the world’s third biggest crypto. Only last month, the company included non-fungible tokens, insurance, and decentralised finance (or DeFi) into its system, by joining hands with Infosys Ltd.
Nailwal has added that it has been quite a struggle making a name for Polygon in a market that’s mostly ruled by Western companies. He said that rebranding the company’s name, and expanding their work force, became beneficial, even as they worked “five times harder to get noticed”.
Polygon had raised more than $5 million back in 2019, through a distribution via Binance. However, it still remains the sole carrier of India’s crypto league, as other firms back away from even launching their tokens, owing to regulatory uncertainity in the country, as well as the chance for a potential ban on crypto.
