A $1B Blockchain Securing a Much Bigger Bet

Have you noticed that the fully diluted valuation of POL - the governance token of the Polygon network - has fallen below $1 billion?

About a year and a half ago, when Polymarket was rapidly gaining popularity, I suggested that Polygon had a real chance to carve out a highly profitable niche in the crypto ecosystem - as the go-to blockchain for gambling.

Today, Polymarket has become an even more significant phenomenon, yet Polygon’s native token has dropped sharply in value. And this is happening at a time when many crypto investors are betting on infrastructure plays. Even Bitcoin’s value is often viewed through the lens of the robust infrastructure its community has built for storage and transfers. For example, one study shows that disrupting the Bitcoin network in any meaningful way would require taking down at least 72% of the world’s submarine fiber-optic cables.

Infrastructure is supposed to increase value. Yet the infrastructure behind one of the most striking phenomena in today’s crypto industry is losing value.

If someone were to buy up all POL tokens for less than $1 billion, they could theoretically disrupt the entire Polygon network - both through staking/validation and governance mechanisms - instantly halting the execution of all Polymarket smart contracts. And Polymarket, I’m quite sure, is worth far more than that.

People talk a lot about infrastructure plays these days, but here’s a simple example of how undervalued crypto infrastructure still is.

If you’re looking for the best rates on POL, you can find them on rabbit.io.