Polygon Studios’ Ryan Watt discusses the fundamental tenets of Web3

New York City: In many respects, the year 2022 was a momentous one for the cryptocurrency world. The optimism around the blockchain improvements that considerably took crypto ecosystems closer to the future of finance was, however, muted by the negative effects of a bear market which occurred at that time.

The Bitcoin network underwent an update known as the Taproot soft fork, the purpose of which was to enhance the scripting capabilities of the Bitcoin network while still protecting user anonymity. A proof-of-work consensus method was replaced with a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism on Ethereum with the implementation of the Merge upgrade.

Polygon, the leading decentralized Ethereum scaling platform, began the year by implementing updates to its mainnet that were based on Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)-1559, often known as the London hard fork. Polygon MATIC was introduced along with the update.

After leaving his position as global head of gaming at YouTube on January 25, Ryan Wyatt began his new role as Chief Executive Officer of Polygon Studios.

Ryan Wyatt: When it comes to updates, Polygon takes a comprehensive approach, just as we do with everything else. It is always feasible to find numerous diverse answers to any problem; hence, it is more fruitful to investigate as many of these answers as you possibly can. When it comes to scaling Ethereum, there are numerous different avenues that may be investigated; nevertheless, the most viable strategic approach would be to aggregate many solutions together.

For instance, our most recent update, zkEVM, which is the first zero knowledge rollup completely compatible with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), was created with the primary intention of addressing Ethereum’s excessive transaction costs and latency. Polygon Avail, which we introduced not long before zkEVM, tackles the issue of data availability by adopting a strategy that is modular (decoupling transaction execution from data availability).

It is already abundantly evident that there cannot be “one solution to rule them all.” Instead, in order to bring about mainstream acceptance of Ethereum and Web3 in general, a comprehensive suite of scaling solutions has to be built.

As decentralization, usability, and user-centricity are three of the fundamental tenets of Web3, it only seems sense that network improvements should often mirror these concepts. In general, we think that users will be appreciative of blockchain enhancements that attempt to boost the overall usefulness and usability of the technology. When it comes to debating and executing changes, developers often put the demands of their communities first. This is a partnership that is mutually beneficial for all parties involved.

Before the Merge, almost all of Polygon’s carbon emissions, or around 99.9% of the total, were caused by smart contracts and holdings that were stored on the Ethereum network. Consequently, as a result of the Merge, Ethereum’s own energy usage and the subsequent carbon emissions have been drastically cut down, and as a result, this beneficial impact has also rubbed through on Polygon and associated platforms, making them much more sustainable as well.

The problem with scalability, on the other hand, is still there. Although the move to PoS was essential in laying the framework for sharding and other scaling strategies, it did nothing to address the problems of high transaction fees and sluggish transaction rates. As a result, layer-2 solutions like as Polygon continue to have a significant amount of value. Polygon will grow more scalable and efficient in tandem with Ethereum’s progress; any enhancement made to Ethereum will in turn boost Polygon’s already robust capabilities.

What is the key to Polygon’s success as one of the most well-known brands in the cryptocurrency space? What strategies do you have in place to ensure that you continue to hold this dominating position in the years to come?

The major objective of Polygon is to contribute to the cooperative construction of an internet that is more equitable and in which anybody may discover opportunities wherever. We create the foundation for a new society in which people and technology cooperate freely and internationally to trade value without the need for gatekeepers or middlemen.

In order to achieve this goal, Polygon is recruiting top-tier new talent from Web2 and Web3 in order to offer the necessary technology stack as well as the infrastructure that is required to guarantee the long-term success of projects. The recruiting drive being conducted by Polygon has attracted top-tier talent from industry leaders such as Electronic Arts, Amazon, and Google.

Polygon’s developer network is continually growing and presently includes more than 37,000 decentralized apps (DApps). Additionally, Polygon is supported by more than 60 metaverse platforms, such as Sandbox, Decentraland, and Somnium Space.

Polygon is also assisting a large number of Web2 companies, such as Starbucks, Adobe, Clinique, and Stripe, to integrate Web3 functionality. In February, the company raised $450 million to further fuel its Web3-focused initiatives and is one of the companies helping Web2 companies integrate Web3 functionality.

As a result of the Merge, the total amount of energy used and the amount of carbon emissions produced by all DApps inside the Polygon ecosystem have both been greatly reduced. This is combined with our own internal sustainability initiatives, which resulted in the network being carbon neutral this year. As a result, hundreds of Polygon decentralized applications (DApps) benefited from having a virtually nonexistent carbon impact.

As Polygon continues to include initiatives that are tailored to Web3, the company’s goal is to become carbon-negative by the end of this year. Cryptocurrency companies have taken the initiative to construct Web3 solutions, and blockchain networks like as Polygon are ready to onboard these offers, provide cross-compatibility with other ecosystems, and increase overall performance.