$POL (Polygon Ecosystem Token) is the native gasoline and staking token of the Polygon community (@0xPolygon), among the best identified Ethereum Layer 2 scaling networks, operating on proof of stake. It pays for transactions, secures the chain by means of staking, and offers holders a say in how the ecosystem spends its treasury. $POL changed MATIC in 2024, and it was constructed to do one thing MATIC couldn’t: safe many chains directly.
In the event you held MATIC, you probably maintain $POL now whether or not you lifted a finger or not. Here’s what the token is, how the swap occurred, and the way it really works right this moment.
From MATIC to $POL: What Modified?
Polygon’s first token was MATIC. In July 2023 the crew proposed changing it with $POL as a part of the Polygon 2.0 roadmap. The migration went stay on September 4, 2024 at a 1:1 ratio, so no new tokens have been created and the beginning provide mirrored MATIC’s roughly 10 billion.
On the Polygon PoS chain the swap was automated. MATIC balances grew to become $POL, and most customers solely noticed the ticker change of their pockets. Holders with MATIC on Ethereum or on exchanges needed to migrate manually by means of the official Polygon Portal. In response to Polygon, about 99% of MATIC had migrated to $POL roughly a yr after launch, and each transaction on Polygon PoS has used $POL because the native gasoline token since September 2024. The improve additionally expanded what staking $POL can entitle validators to do, together with block manufacturing and zero-knowledge proof era.
This was an improve, not a recent token sale. The purpose was to show a single-chain token into one that may energy an entire community of chains.
What Does $POL Really Do?
$POL has three jobs right this moment.
Gasoline: It pays transaction charges on the Polygon PoS community. Charges normally run a fraction of a cent, which is why the community leans onerous into funds and high-volume apps.
Staking: Validators and delegators lock $POL to safe the chain and earn rewards. These rewards come from new token emissions plus a share of community charges. As of early 2026, round 3.6 billion $POL was locked in staking contracts, near a 3rd of the provision.
In April 2026 Polygon gave that locked capital someplace to go. It launched sPOL, its first native liquid staking token. Stake $POL by means of it and also you get sPOL again, a receipt token you should use throughout DeFi as collateral or liquidity whereas the underlying $POL retains incomes rewards. The purpose is to place idle stake to work. Earlier than sPOL, solely about 4 to five% of staked $POL was liquid, effectively behind Ethereum, the place most staked ETH sits in liquid staking.
Governance: $POL holders assist determine how the Group Treasury is spent, together with on grants and growth funding.
$POL additionally sits on the heart of Polygon’s longer-term plan. The AggLayer, Polygon’s system for linking separate chains into one community with shared liquidity, has been stay on mainnet since early 2025 and is connecting a rising set of chains. The piece nonetheless being finalized is $POL‘s position inside it: the “one stake, many chains” thought, the place a validator secures a number of chains with the identical staked $POL. The infrastructure is in manufacturing, however the staking and payment mechanics that tie $POL to it are nonetheless maturing.
How Does $POL‘s Tokenomics Work?
$POL began at 10 billion tokens. By mid 2026 the circulating provide sat close to 10.65 billion, with no most provide set.
The token has a built-in 2% annual emission. In response to Polygon’s documentation, that splits into 1% for validator and staking rewards and 1% for the Group Treasury, which funds grants and ecosystem progress. The schedule kicked in after the unique MATIC reward plan wound down in 2025, and the speed was later adjusted by means of a neighborhood vote often called PIP-26. Governance can change emissions sooner or later, however the sensible contract caps how briskly new $POL might be minted.
There isn’t a onerous provide cap. Polygon selected an inflationary mannequin on function, so emissions fund safety and growth on a predictable schedule fairly than relying on payment income, which might dry up when exercise is low. The tradeoff is dilution. New $POL enters circulation yearly, whether or not the community earns it or not, and that solely works long run if utilization grows sufficient for payment burns to offset the brand new provide.
The place is $POL Used?
Past gasoline and staking, $POL sits underneath a variety of exercise:
- Funds and stablecoins, together with cross-border transfers and service provider settlement. That is now one in every of Polygon’s most important pitches, with about $3.7 billion in stablecoins issued on the community.
- DeFi, protecting lending, borrowing, buying and selling, and liquidity, with roughly $1.1 billion locked in Polygon DeFi protocols as of June 2026.
- Gaming and NFTs, the place low charges and quick affirmation matter most.
- Actual-world property and institutional use, similar to tokenized funds and controlled staking.
The community processed about 1.4 billion transactions in 2025, an indication that on-chain utilization, not simply buying and selling, drives demand for the token.
Is $POL Inflationary or Deflationary?
That is the place the easy “it is inflationary” label breaks down.
On paper $POL provides 2% provide per yr by means of emissions. However Polygon PoS nonetheless burns a part of each transaction payment, the identical EIP-1559 mechanism Ethereum makes use of. When the community is busy, these burns can outrun new emissions.
In early 2026 that’s precisely what occurred. Polygon reported each day burns of roughly 1 million $POL throughout a utilization spike, which annualizes to about 3.5% of provide, greater than the two% that emissions add annually. Throughout these stretches $POL is successfully deflationary, though its design is inflationary.
So the entire thing rests on actual community exercise. Emissions are fastened and predictable. Burns usually are not. The extra the community is used, the tighter the $POL provide will get.
Sources
- Polygon — official weblog confirming the migration reached 99% and that $POL has been the PoS gasoline token since September 2024.
- Polygon Docs — main reference on $POL‘s 10 billion preliminary provide, the two% emission break up, PIP-26, and the mint cap.
- Polygon — official announcement of sPOL and the staker rewards push.
- CoinMarketCap — stay circulating provide (~10.65 billion), no max provide, and market information.
- DefiLlama — Polygon DeFi TVL (~$1.11 billion) and stablecoin market cap (~$3.7 billion) as of June 2026.
- AInvest — early-2026 reporting on each day $POL burns, staking lock-up, and the emission-versus-burn dynamic.
