Layer 2 protocols aimed at bringing scalability to the ever-crowded Ethereum network have stolen the crypto spotlight since DeFi summer last year. One platform that particularly stood out was Polygon, which has become a go-to for many DeFi proponents looking for low fees and high speed for their transactions.
Polygon leaping ahead
Owing to this, Polygon has increasingly been adding more DeFi applications to its network every day. So much so, that it has now revealed that over 7000 decentralized applications (dApp) were now operational of its network, which is more than double the number just three months prior, according to data from Alchemy.
In a blog post, it was further pointed out that the number of teams building their projects on Polygon has doubled every two months since the middle of last year. At the end of December, that number stood at 6,000, up 43% from the previous month. The huge influx also led to a 74% increase in network usage over the same period.
While this is a far cry from the number of applications built on Ethereum, which had crossed 13,000 dApps back in May 2020, the pace of Polygon’s growth in adoption is indicative of its rising popularity.
Additionally, $4.4 billion has been locked in DeFi protocols on-chain. Over the past year, it has been integrated by top DeFi networks like Uniswap, Aave, and Curve, as well as brands like brand company Dolce & Gabbana and Adidas. Polygon post noted that of these, 55% of projects integrated exclusively on Polygon, compared to 45% who also deployed on Ethereum.
1 billion+ transactions!
As for user adoption, Polygon recorded a billion transactions last year with over 2.67 million monthly active users generating 3 million transactions per day, which it claims is more than double the volume of Ethereum.
However, the network is hardly unstoppable as increased use has exposed its shortcomings. And they look oddly familiar to those on Ethereum. Earlier this month, a blockchain-based farming game called Sunflower Farmers managed to cause heavy congestion on Polygon, after which many users complained about failed transactions and degraded performance on the blockchain. .
This could seriously defeat the purpose of Polygon’s existence, considering its allure lies in its high thoroughput. Dan Elitzer, a co-founder of Nascent, a crypto investment firm, had also noted the same on Twitter at the time.
