After a long period of tranquility, network activity on Polygon [MATIC] is beginning to gain strong momentum. According to DeFiLlama, the number of active users on the Ethereum [ETH] sidechain soared to 389,000 on May 16th, hitting a five-week high.
The growth in the user base has had a proportional impact on the number of transactions processed on the network.
A large part of the transaction volume is driven by Polygon's L2 scaling solution, zkEVM. According to a tweet from Polygon, the volume of transactions for zero-knowledge rollups (zk-rollups) has reached record levels over the past few days.
Polygon's New Initiatives
Over the past few months, Polygon has become increasingly prominent. Whether it's the launch of the much-anticipated Polygon zkEVM or a hard fork aimed at stabilizing network gas fees, the ecosystem has taken active measures to make blockchain technology more efficient and accessible.
As part of ongoing efforts, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal announced the launch of the Nailwal Scholarship — a program aimed at providing financial aid and resources for early Web3 developers.
Nailwal stated that he would personally put $500,000 into the program, averaging out to 10 individuals per year.
In addition to the grants, these researchers will also receive guidance from Symbolic Capital, a venture capital fund founded by Sandeep Nailwal, and exposure to top founders and investors to aid them in committing to building full-time in Web3 for 6 months.
MATIC Remains Immune
The positive developments from the ecosystem have failed to uplift the native token, MATIC. At the time of writing, the token was down 1.4% in the past 24 hours.
In fact, MATIC's predicament is not a recent occurrence. Data from CoinMarketCap show it was one of the biggest losers in the market last month, with losses exceeding 27% at the time of publication.
The price drop has weakened investor confidence in MATIC, as the sentiment weighted continues to trend in the negative zone. As a result, user adoption has taken a hit, as indicated by the steady decline in the number of new addresses.
In the futures market, the open interest (OI) of MATIC has risen by 3.24% in the past 24 hours. According to Coinglass data, the metric reached $182.82 million.
As the increase in the long/short ratio suggests, most of the newly opened positions are targeting a price rise.
