Use Matic as Gas token for Polygon zkEVM and redirect Polygon to prioritize Matic

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Overview (#1 Edited to remove insults)

I am not a developer so I will likely say some things wrong here to which I apologize.

Matic is the gas token of the Polygon network. Buyers/investors/holders of this token are the ones that support the network, pay the bills, and use the network. Many have taken on significant risk in order to fund Polygon Lab’s efforts. Polygon zkEVM proposes to ditch Matic as the gas token. It retains Matic in some currently unknown role and for running a validator (from what I’ve read). This announcement has caused the value of Matic to crash from $1.52 on Feb 17th, 2023, to $0.87, while ETH has risen in the same period from $1694 to $1820.

Problem

Matic is the governance token of the Polygon network, much like shares in companies, the holders/owners of Matic make the decisions that guide the company, in this case Polygon Labs. This decision by Polygon Labs that has caused the price of Matic to dump, damaging their investors. As Polygon Labs has switched over to focusing on zkEVM, it is likely that the value of Matic will continue to decline as people lose faith in the token. Eventually, it could be forseen that it becomes nearly worthless.

This also betrays many of the employees, dapp developers, etc. of Polygon who hold/own/are paid bonuses in Matic. All of whom have suffered. I hope every employee of Polygon Labs has lost somewhat from this because that means they are invested in Polygon.

Proposed Solution

I would first propose that the CEO of Polygon Labs and the Polygon Foundation be dismissed. It is clear that they are working against Matic holders (the shareholders) and all stock options (or their equivalent be seized).

I would then propose that new CEO’s be inserted that understand that the Matic token is the token of Polygon with the order from the Shareholders to be to ensure that Matic plays an important role in zkEVM either as the gas token or as a staking token which accumulates ETH paid as fees.

As a Matic holder who has six figures of Matic, I feel quite betrayed here. I assume other Matic holders also feel this way. We cannot change the past, but much like a company as shareholders we can change the management and give them directives to make a better future. Let us not let Polygon become a network taken over by CEO’s that are focused on themselves rather than rewarding the people who paid for their success. This proposal to use ETH as the main token of Polygon after they themselves sold us Polygon to profit is ridiculous and a stab in the back.

Long-term I would like half of executives wages to be paid in a fixed amount of Matic so they are directly hit by their decisions.

Proposed Solution #2

Should it be impossible to dismiss the CEO’s, simply forcing zkEVM to use Matic for gas would be sufficient. Redirect a % of gas used towards purchasing ETH if it’s needed for L1 block space.

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Dear @misher,

Your post breaks several forum guidelines. Please amend all the inappropriate language and profanity used in the post above.

Here you can read the Polygon Community Forum Guidelines.

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Hey @gioser
I agree with you, but he also has many valid points that must be addressed. I think the major question, for now, is can we use $MATIC as the gas token in the zkEvm infra if not why?

1 Like
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Let’s be honest, the Polygon team sold us the token and now that they’ve sold it for cash they don’t feel a need to honor it. They are rugpulling MATIC. The recent price crash of Matic made that clear. Thankfully there is a democratic process that they set up that they have to honor. I hope others can post and make their thoughts known.

How can this nightmare somehow be the immediate future and no one is speaking up? We, the Matic owners, need to take back control.

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I have re-read my post and none of the words I use are profanity. I did make derogatory comments about the leaders of Polygon which I have now removed, but they also broke the Community Guidelines which state

“We always prioritize the health of the ecosystem and community above particular interests. Any intentional disruption or act that endangers the well-being of the Polygon community will not be tolerated.”

Crashing the price of Matic is not prioritizing the ecosystem and community. My actions are the ones prioritizing the well-being of the Polygon community.

(Edit: My post was un-hidden so please ignore the below)

I see you have quietly hidden my post, given that I am directly calling for the removal of your boss, that is not a surprise. However, it does prove that Polygon’s claim of open decentralized governance is false since it appears that any post that calls for a change in that governance is shutdown. I must insist that you cease hiding my proposal from the community as it contains no profanity or swears. I am allowed to call for a vote on firing the CEO am I not?

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I have only hidden the post due to the derogatory comments and the inappropriate language used in it.

I have made it visible again, now that these have been amended.

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Thank you. Please state that you are hiding a post in the future, since you did so quietly I suspected something was going on.

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First thing that comes to mind is that zkEVM is a rollup to ethereum - using matic as a gas token would introduce significant economic complexity and decouple the supply from the demand.

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Polygon is a L2 of Ethereum and sells Matic to purchase ETH block space. Polygon L2 introduced significant economic complexity and decoupled supply from the demand when it used Matic instead of ETH. It did this to mint Matic which it then sold to us to raise funds. zkEVM should use up less ETH per tx than Polygon which means it is not a problem to use the existing system of selling Matic to pay for block space. Not to mention that Polygon being the biggest L2 of ETH has some pull so it can easily push an EIP through to reserve block space at a reasonable rate of gas for itself.

To be clear here, Polygon as a company exists for Matic not vice-versa. They can’t just create a new company, shift all assets to it, then dump the shareholders of the original company. The Shareholders (Matic holders) are #1 here and maintaining/increasing the price of Matic is the #1 goal of Polygon as a company.

Polygon is proposing to rugpull Matic holders after selling them billions of dollars of Matic. They cannot just create a whole new network and dump the old one. Polygon zkEVM was created on company time using company funds and belongs to Matic holders, not ETH holders. If a project doesn’t bring value to Matic holders then it shouldn’t be done.

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Does my proposal being hidden mean it’ll be assigned a PIP number soon?

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In my opinion (and the opinion of every Matic holder I speak to), the success of the company relies on how they move forward with the Matic token. If they abandon it, Polygon Labs will die.
Doesnt matter how good of technology you have if you piss off millions of investors. I firmly believe Polygon sees this and will make the right move but I guess wel will all see on the 10th when the new tokenomics are released.

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The recent proposal will effectively dilute $POL indefinately. After 10 years, Polygon labs will just put out another proposal on why 1% emissions is needed.

Reducing supply is more ideal. Cheap gas tokens create spam on the network, thus, congestion as has happened multiple times on Polygon POS.

This is simply another case of the rich getting richer. The founding members have more than enough funds to support their project until they are ready to make it decentralized.

I say no to this proposal. DO NOT LET THEM DILUTE YOUR HOLDINGS.

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They are proposing to increase issuance with $POL?