Journalist
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Key takeaways
Why is Polygon facing an identity crisis?
According to the CEO, almost 95% of its users are off social media and wondering what happened to MATIC.
How did the community react?
Mixed. Some want MATIC to be a stronger brand, while others warn such a move would lead to more confusion.
Ethereum L2 Polygon appears to be in a branding crisis with its new POL ticker. The community is now divided on the proposal to revert to the old, well-known “MATIC” ticker.
Some critics claim that “POL” represents the evolution of L2 into a new era of scaling, via AggLayer. Therefore, going back would signal a lack of consistency and cause further confusion, one user noted: addition,
“Yes, recognition is important, but in my opinion we solve this problem with better education and clearer messages, not by going back to the identity we have just established.”
The reaction followed comments from Polygon CEO Sandeep Nailwal. request earlier in the week.
Nailwal said those opposed to the POL brand argued that more than 95% of non-crypto Twitter members were used to MATIC and didn’t know where it was going.
Mapping the transition from Matic to Polygon
Others even question the point of rebranding if it marginalizes the majority of users.
Source:
The Ethereum (ETH) sidechain was created in 2017 and came to the mainnet as the “Matic Network” in 2020. The MATIC token was the heart of the L2, used as a gas token and securing it (since it is proof of stake, PoS) via staking.
But in 2021, the chain was renamed Polygon and only changed the token later, in mid-2023, to POL.
What started as a single chain has evolved into several linked chains, including the Interoperation Layer (AggLayer), Polygon zkEVM and others.
Therefore, the new POL token was intended to capture the change, but it seems that the rebranding was not felt across the board, according to the current divided opinions.
Impact of POL rebranding
According to Santiment, demand for Polygon (POL) increased steadily after the rebranding (red line up slightly) in late 2023 and early 2024.
However, it collapsed sharply in the second half of 2024 (fall of the red line) and remained negative until October 2025.
Source: Santiment
In other words, a slight buildup followed the rebranding, but collapsed afterward.
A new reaccumulation The trend only started at the beginning of this year and turned positive last month. Now, 631 million POL tokens are outside of exchanges – a bullish sign.
But active addresses have decreased and stagnated in H₂, as shown in the blue shaded area. POL price, on the other hand, has fallen 83% from the 2024 high of $0.75 to $0.13 amid broader market weakness.
Overall, POL has seen great success in 2025, and brand awareness could be addressed with more education. But prices remained subdued due to general market sentiment.
