The new decade is all set to usher in an era suffused by Blockchain tech and decentralized applications serving a multitude of possibilities and platforms. But the current decentralized ecosystem is not adequately scalable to suit the high demands in the near future. Before blockchain goes mainstream, issues such as slow block confirmations and high gas fees need to be sorted to enhance user experience. 

No significant dApps have yet been able to achieve mass adoption. Some score over higher transaction throughput but fail at the decentralization front, while others feel crippled in high load times. Developers are focusing more on developing new blockchains rather than banking on the extensive organic reach of the Ethereum Blockchain and its community.  

Matic Network is one such innovation that aims to solve the blockchain inefficiencies via a decentralized platform built using an adapted version of the Plasma framework and a Proof-of-Stake network. It is also helpful in the massive scaling of dApps. Matic Network intends to push liveliness and economy in the Ethereum transactions with finality on the main chain. 

Let’s find out how.

Challenges Faced by Current Blockchain Ecosystem

• Currently, on most blockchains, transaction speeds are slow, extending to exasperating durations at times. There is a limit on the block size as well. All these limitations are necessary for a public blockchain to remain decentralized.
• Owing to the limit on the block size, the number of transactions in a particular block is limited. This is required for quick block propagation as public blockchains require a time lag between intermediate production for the propagation to happen over the entire blockchain. 
• As the crypto market grows, so grows the number and variety of crypto assets and transactions. The crypto economy runs on the on-chain transfer of tokens or gas fees in the case of Ethereum. The fees’ variability is directly proportional to the pending pool of transactions, owing to the limited block size. 
• Even though payment channels solve the problem of micro-payments, multiple dApps open and manage their channels. This makes the payment ecosystem complex, slow, and inconvenient. 
• Each block needs to be validated by multiple nodes that need to manage a copy of all the blocks. As the chains with limited block size continue to grow, maintaining and validating their existence with every new block over the blockchain is becoming more difficult and risky. 
• The current blockchain ecosystem has more of an exotic appeal than well-wrought ergonomics in place, which is bad for normal users. The users find difficulty in managing multiple tokens and their convertibility such that they become usable on different platforms.  

It’s these challenges that Matic aims to solve.

The Matic Network

Matic Network is an ​off/side chain scaling solution for existing platforms to provide scalability and superior user experience to DApps/user functionalities.

Matic Network, a Layer 2 scaling solution, aims to address the problems mentioned above by the utilization of:

• sidechains for off-chain computation
• The Plasma Framework, and
• A decentralized network of PoS (Proof-of-Stake) validators

To ensure scalability, usability, and asset security without compromising decentralization and leveraging the existing ecosystem and user community.  The PoS checkpoints, when pushed to the Ethereum mainchain, enable Matic Network to theoretically achieve 2¹⁶ transactions on a single side chain.

Current Use Cases

• Several dApps are being developed on the network to reap the benefits of lower transaction costs and enhanced user experience. A marketplace for Decentraland (DCL) Assets is also being built. The network expects the transaction and trade volume to grow exponentially once virtual reality gains momentum. 
• Other dApps include names such as Pocket Full of Quarters, a game that raised funds on Republic.co, Chainbreakers, another game built on the decentralized universe, and Cryptosaw, a Venmo using DAI. 
• The development team at Matic has built a Plasma wallet mobile app with a WalletConnect integration. The wallet is easy to use, ensures safe storage of keys, and gives access to the features provided by Matic Network. 

Dagger is a tool or engine developed by the Matic Network to track Ethereum accounts in real-time. Developers can use Dagger for tracking their smart contract transactions and accounts.

Matic: Future Potential

Matic Network posits interesting future possibilities for third party dApps and user ecosystems, given its robust utilities. Some areas the network aims to transform are:

• Payments: The provision of a user-friendly interface, payment APIs, and SDKs for dApps via Matic can ensure instant Ether and ERC20 token payments, multi-asset cross-chain transfers, payments via atomic swaps, and liquidity providers, and fiat-enabled off-ramp payment system integration. 
• Atomic Swaps: The smart contracts in the Matic network will allow payments in any preferred crypto token, and the receiver will have the liberty to choose the receipt in his desired crypto token. Atomic swaps between cross-chain crypto assets will handle such conversions.
• Liquidity Providers: By leveraging the 0x liquidity pool, third parties can use the network to allow exchange in multiple tokens. Collaborations with fiat liquidity providers in major countries are being planned in case of fiat.
• Infrastructure: Open source tools such as user-friendly wallets for individual users and merchants, payment SDKs, and payment dashboards will be the new seamless infrastructure developed on the Network. In the future, users will be able to operate smoothly between their mobile wallet and browser dApps and many other devices, while their keys lie secure in their mobile wallets.   
• Decentralized exchanges: They are the future of digital assets. With all the characteristics of an exchange platform, Matic Network is capable enough to support decentralized exchanges and trustless and easy crypto trades. 
• Control over the Identity: Users don’t need to understand the technical workings of the Ethereum Network. They need a seamless and secure interface to operate. Matic Network aims to provide this security and ease via Open-identity systems. The users won’t be required to submit their private keys on each web browser or app they sign in to.
• Lending platforms: Matic Network, by using the Dharma Protocol, intends to provide tokenized debts to the borrowers. The merchants will be able to assess the transaction history of the users to check their creditworthiness. 
• Hermione: The network also seeks to develop a scalable, modular, and real-time Ethereum data processor called Hermione. 

Matic Network is a compelling product ecosystem, complete with user-friendly mobile apps, browser extensions, and desktop wallets. Could it be the answer to prevalent discrepancies in the blockchain ecosystem via its scalable and user-friendly solutions? Perhaps. 
At WazirX, we are thrilled to see the potential and possibilities of the decentralized network. The future awaits the mass adoption of digital assets, and so do we!