Just over a year after Polygon transitioned its native token from MATIC to POL, co-founder Sandeep Nailwal is publicly questioning the move. Citing feedback from the trading community, Nailwal suggested that the original MATIC ticker had a stronger and more established brand identity, sparking a debate about a potential reversal.

The Technical Leap from MATIC to POL

The migration to POL, finalized in September 2024, was driven by significant technical evolution within the Polygon ecosystem. The original MATIC token was an ERC-20 asset on Ethereum, designed primarily for the network’s initial Proof-of-Stake (PoS) chain. Its role was managed through mapping and bridge contracts.

However, as Polygon expanded from a single chain into a multi-chain network of zk-rollups and sovereign “supernets,” it outgrew its initial token framework. MATIC couldn’t be staked across multiple networks simultaneously. In contrast, POL was engineered as a natively multichain token, designed with the functionality to secure the entire, expanding ecosystem. With 99% of MATIC now converted, the technical transition is essentially complete, but the shift in brand perception has proven more challenging.

A Question of Identity

On November 25, Nailwal shared his concerns on the social media platform X. “I keep hearing from folks in the Polygon trading community that MATIC was a far stronger and more familiar ticker,” he stated. “It had history, recognition, and stuck in people’s minds.”

While asking his followers for feedback on potentially asking exchanges to revert the ticker, Nailwal also acknowledged the significant hurdles such a U-turn would present. He noted that there’s no guarantee exchanges would accommodate another change and that reversing course could introduce even greater confusion and fragmentation. In a decentralized ecosystem where clear messaging is crucial, a second change in just over a year could undermine the project’s visibility, suggesting that sticking with POL may be the most pragmatic path forward despite the nostalgia for MATIC.