Recently, I spent a week deeply experiencing the Polygon ecosystem, from participating in the CreatorPad project that everyone is concerned about, to the daily POS staking rewards. I compiled practical gameplay that ordinary people can easily engage with into a testing note, with no empty talk; it's all detailed information that can be directly referenced.
First, let's talk about my participation in the CreatorPad test—this is a platform on Polygon that helps early projects raise funds. Many people are concerned about the high entry barrier, but from my personal testing, all you need is to prepare a wallet and a small amount of POL. The first step is to add the Polygon network in MetaMask (fill in the RPC address https://polygon-rpc.com, chain ID 137; this address has been tested and is more stable than other nodes, without loading issues). The second step is to connect your wallet on the CreatorPad official website; no KYC is required, but you need to ensure your wallet has at least 10 POL (I tried with 9 POL and it indicated insufficient balance; the platform has a minimum participation threshold).
I chose a recently opened fundraising Web3 tool project and invested 20 POL. The entire process took less than 5 minutes: after confirming the transfer, the platform will issue the project's early tokens within 24 hours. I have held the tokens for 7 days, monitoring the project's Discord for updates, and I expect it to go live for trading next month. One important point to note — after the fundraising ends, remember to confirm the token receipt in 'My Assets'; I forgot to check on the first day and later found it was a network delay. Refreshing the wallet twice showed the tokens, so there’s no need to panic.
Now let's discuss the core POS staking yield of Polygon, which is the most stable way to play and suitable for those who don’t want to deal with too much hassle. I staked 100 POL to the officially recommended validator nodes (selected those with a score above 98 and stable historical returns, avoiding new nodes to prevent disconnection risks), and now I can earn about 0.12 POL daily, with an annualized yield of about 4.3%. Here’s a professional detail to note: there’s a 21-day unlock period after staking, so if you need cash urgently, don’t stake all of it; additionally, you can enable ‘compound staking’, where the system will automatically reinvest the daily earnings. I calculated that compounding for a year can earn about 1.2 more POL compared to simple interest, which is quite cost-effective.
Lastly, let’s talk about a fee advantage that many people overlook — this is also a core reason why Polygon is thriving. Previously, I spent 28 dollars in fees to transfer a sum of USDC on the Ethereum mainnet. Transferring the same amount to Polygon only cost 0.03 dollars, and the confirmation time was quick, about 15 seconds. Whether participating in CreatorPad or staking, the daily operation fees are basically negligible, which is very friendly for users with small amounts of capital.
In summary, Polygon is not just a 'technical concept' to observe. The low threshold for participation in CreatorPad and the stable returns from POS staking are practical methods that ordinary people can access. The key is to follow the right steps and pay attention to details. I will continue to monitor the launch situation of the CreatorPad project, and I will provide more detailed earnings later.
