The following is an in-depth article written in Chinese, focusing on the Polygon ecosystem and Metaverse projects powered by Polygon. I will pay attention to using a human-like writing style to avoid giving the impression of AI generation.
In the blockchain world, as the congestion of the Ethereum mainnet and high gas fee issues become increasingly prominent, many developers and projects are starting to look for more efficient and cost-effective alternatives. Polygon (formerly Matic Network) provides a compatible, low-cost, high-performance solution for Ethereum.
Polygon's design allows for seamless migration of smart contracts, assets, and modules in the Ethereum ecosystem. It can act as a sidechain and support various types of Layer-2 architectures (such as zkRollup, Optimistic Rollup, etc.).
For building the metaverse, it is especially important to focus on transaction speed, low fees, and cross-contract interoperability, which are the advantages of Polygon. Therefore, more and more metaverse projects are choosing to locate on Polygon. Below, I will first overview the ecological landscape of Polygon, then focus on several projects and innovations based on Polygon in the metaverse space.
---
II. Overview of the Polygon Ecosystem
2.1 Core Architecture and Development Direction
Polygon is transitioning to "Polygon 2.0", a significant evolution of its network architecture aimed at enhancing modularity, composability, and cross-chain interoperability.
In this new architecture, Polygon is no longer just a single scaling chain but an extensible multi-chain ecological network that will support various types of chains (such as appchains, zkEVM chains, etc.) and enhance security and collaboration through the "re-staking" mechanism.
The Polygon ecosystem also includes many sub-projects or modules, such as:
Polygon Studios: This is a department focused on the implementation of Web3 gaming, the metaverse, and digital assets, undertaking roles such as technical support and developer assistance.
Polygon ID: A decentralized identity system based on zero-knowledge proofs, used to complete identity verification without revealing privacy. This project is crucial for security and trust mechanisms in the future metaverse.
zkEVM / zkRollup Solutions: This is Polygon's focus on scalability. Through zero-knowledge proof technology, transactions can achieve extremely low fees and fast confirmations while maintaining Ethereum's security.
In addition, from the perspective of ecological applications, there are many DeFi, NFT, game, and other sub-projects on Polygon. CoinMarketCap has listed several important projects in its "Polygon: Top 10 Biggest Projects", such as Aavegotchi, QuickSwap, JellySwap, etc.
2.2 Summary of Ecological Advantages
Based on current observations, Polygon demonstrates several obvious advantages in its ecological layout:
Advantages Description
Low Fees, High Throughput Compared with the Ethereum mainnet, Polygon's transaction fees are lower, confirmation speeds are faster, and user experience is better.
Ethereum Compatibility Smart contracts, tokens, etc., can be easily migrated from Ethereum, lowering development thresholds.
Modularity and Scalability Under the Polygon 2.0 architecture, it supports heterogeneous chains and re-staking security mechanisms, allowing various chains to be composable and coexist.
Developer Ecosystem and Support For example, Polygon Studios provides support, funding, and technical resources to attract more projects.
Identity and Privacy Support Using tools like Polygon ID, identity verification can be both secure and private, suitable for collaborative metaverse scenarios.
It is precisely these advantages that have led to more and more metaverse/virtual world projects tending to choose Polygon as their underlying chain or infrastructure.
---
III. Selected Metaverse Projects Based on Polygon
Here are some representative projects or platforms in the metaverse space that are built or migrated using Polygon technology:
3.1 OVR: AR Metaverse and Location-Aware Experience
OVR is a project that combines augmented reality (AR) with the concept of the metaverse, allowing users to create, own, and showcase 3D content on real-world maps, and trade this content as NFTs. To meet the demands of high transaction volume and low costs, OVR migrated from Ethereum to Polygon, leveraging its scalability and low fees to realize the AR metaverse.
OVR's characteristic is that the content has geographical attachment, meaning that virtual content appears at real geographical locations based on mobile GPS positioning. This method gives the AR metaverse the perceptual ability of "virtual overlay reality."
3.2 Aavegotchi: DeFi + Metaverse + Collectible Pets
Aavegotchi is a project that combines DeFi and NFT, allowing users to collateralize certain interest-bearing assets (such as aTokens) as "pixel ghosts" (Gotchi) and then interact, cultivate, trade, etc., in the virtual world.
As one of the established projects in the Polygon ecosystem, Aavegotchi's operation and economic mechanism greatly benefit from Polygon's high performance and low cost. Many people view it as a typical case of the combination of "on-chain metaverse + functional NFT."
3.3 Decentral Games in Decentraland: Poker-Driven Metaverse Economy
Decentraland is a well-known blockchain virtual world where users can buy land, build, and interact. Although its core is based on Ethereum, many wearable items (wearables) transactions and game activities within it often use transactions on the Polygon chain to reduce costs.
In a recent study (“Dressed to Gamble”), scholars found that Decentral Games (which operates poker-based gambling games in Decentraland) almost dominates the virtual economy of Decentraland:
> After analyzing 5.9 million wearable item transfers and 677 million user trajectory logs on the Polygon network, the research pointed out that this poker game occupies a large share of daily visits and dwell time in the virtual world.
This case illustrates that even large virtual world projects choose to partially or hybridly utilize Polygon as the underlying transaction chain to optimize user experience and transaction efficiency.
3.4 Other Projects / Application Cases
Bloktopia: A virtual office/VR project, part of its assets (such as virtual real estate, NFTs) can be traded and managed on Polygon (mentioned as a Polygon metaverse NFT project in relevant NFT rankings).
QuickSwap / JellySwap: Although not metaverse projects, as core DeFi projects within the Polygon ecosystem, they often interact and collaborate with the economic systems in NFTs, games, and virtual worlds.
NFT Wearables / Virtual Fashion: There are multiple wearable NFT projects on Polygon (avatar gear, clothing, accessories, etc.), which provide important foundations for image customization and community interaction in the metaverse.
Polygon Studios' Partnerships with Brands: Polygon Studios is actively engaging in cross-industry collaborations in the metaverse space, attracting brands from fashion, entertainment, and art to establish interactive assets in the virtual space.
These projects and cases together constitute a multi-layered, cross-domain metaverse network ecosystem.
---
IV. Challenges, Risks, and Future Outlook
Although there are many successful cases and advantages of metaverse projects based on Polygon, there are also many challenges and uncertainties in this rapidly evolving industry.
4.1 Technical and Performance Risks
Network Congestion and Bottlenecks: If certain applications suddenly experience extremely high transaction volumes, Polygon's scalability may face pressure.
Security Risks: Smart contract vulnerabilities, bridging (bridge) security issues, cross-chain interoperability vulnerabilities, etc., may become attack entry points.
Zero-Knowledge Proof / zkEVM Maturity: Although Polygon has invested heavily in the zk field, the technology is still evolving and may face compatibility, efficiency, or security issues.
4.2 Economic and Token Mechanism Risks
Improper Economic Model Design: If virtual world and NFT projects lack good inflation/deflation mechanisms and incentive designs, it may lead to token value collapse or user attrition.
Liquidity and Capital Drain: If funds in the ecosystem are withdrawn or the market environment deteriorates, projects may struggle to maintain operations.
4.3 Competition and Pressure from Alternative Chains
The competition in the metaverse/blockchain world is very fierce. Many Layer-1 and Layer-2 are vying for this market, such as Solana, Avalanche, ImmutableX, Arweave, Nebula, etc. Polygon must continuously optimize its performance and ecosystem attractiveness to maintain its leading position.
4.4 User Acceptance and Social Factors
User barriers remain high: Wallet usage, private key management, and the concept of gas are still obstacles among general users.
Regulatory risk: In certain countries or regions, NFTs, virtual assets, gambling, and gamified tokens may be subject to policy restrictions or regulatory uncertainties.
Sustainability Issues: If metaverse projects cannot continuously provide value to users (entertainment, social interaction, economic return, etc.), user attrition may occur.
4.5 Future Trends and Opportunities
Cross-Metaverse Interoperability: In the future, users hope that assets, identities, and items can interoperate across multiple virtual worlds. This requires standardized protocols and universal cross-chain bridges.
Mixed Reality (XR), Deep Integration of AR/VR: With the maturity of AR/VR technology, the metaverse based on Polygon may further evolve towards integration with reality.
Physical and Virtual Asset Integration (“phygital”): For example, the linkage between NFTs and physical goods, as well as experiences that connect physical and virtual, will become more common.
Strengthening the Social/Creator Economy: In the virtual world, users hope not only to be consumers but also to become creators, content providers, and community builders. The low barrier of Polygon helps empower ordinary users to become creators.
Development of Identity and Reputation Systems: Polygon ID and decentralized identity protocols may become the trust foundation for AI, content, and transactions in the metaverse.
---
V. Summary
In the current wave of blockchain and metaverse development, Polygon, with its compatibility with Ethereum, low transaction costs, scalability, and developer ecosystem support, has become the preferred infrastructure for many metaverse/virtual world projects. Through projects like OVR, Aavegotchi, and Decentral Games, we can see the importance of Polygon in areas such as AR, NFT, virtual world interaction, and economic system design.
However, to enable these metaverse projects to develop sustainably, it is necessary to address challenges such as technical risks, economic model design, cross-chain interoperability, regulation, and user experience barriers. In the future, with the maturity of zk technology, composable architecture, and identity systems, based on Polygon
The metaverse is expected to evolve toward a more open, interoperable, and immersive direction.
---
Two high-value hashtags (which you can use on social platforms or in metaverse communities):
