Polygon Labs Launches $90 Million Fund to Develop Ecosystem

Polygon Labs, the developer behind the Polygon network (MATIC), has launched a revitalized initiative, Polygon Village 2.0, with a new funding program worth over 110 million MATIC - approximately $91.3 million at the time of writing - to support ecosystem development projects.

In addition to the funding, Polygon Village 2.0 provides projects with a support system including strategic advisory, mentoring, co-working space, and opportunities to connect with various investment funds within the industry.

Polygon Village 2.0 follows the introduction of Polygon 2.0 in June 2023, aiming to establish a comprehensive network of interconnected layer-2 chains based on zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology, and includes the creation of the POL token to replace MATIC in various roles.

The initiative is divided into three components: "Village Grants," "Village Build Ideas," and "Village Startup Support."

Village Grants - Community Funding Program
With over $90 million allocated, this program offers open policies for projects at any stage of development across various crypto fields including DeFi, SocialFi, GameFi, and infrastructure. These grants will be disbursed through:

• Direct funding from the Polygon Foundation: Grants up to 2 million MATIC (equivalent to $1.7 million USD) per project, primarily for later-stage projects.
• Multiplicative funding: For early-stage projects, funding will be based on community contributions. The more votes a project receives, the larger the funding amount. Similar multiplicative grants will be rolled out in the near future.

Village Build Ideas - Development Project Support Program
This platform is designed for builders seeking the next stage of development for their projects. They will receive 1:1 support from advisory experts at Polygon Labs to fully realize their new ideas.

Village Startup Support - Startup Project Support Program
Founders will receive support in building purpose-driven projects through Polygon Labs' multidisciplinary team of technology/marketing/investment experts, including strategy, 1:1 advisory, and access to Polygon's extensive partner network to receive support from all ecosystem solution providers.

Projects applying to participate in the program will receive discount vouchers for various Polygon Labs services, including smart contract auditing, custody solutions, computing solutions, Web3 infrastructure, and tools for DeFi/NFT/DAO.

Discount vouchers for various services within Polygon's ecosystem

Recent developments show Polygon's continuous efforts to strengthen its presence and capabilities.

Following the introduction of the layer-2 Chain Development Kit (CDK) in August 2023, Polygon Labs co-founder Sandeep Nailwal aims to make ApeCoin a layer-2 solution, establishing a "Protocol Council" overseeing the upgrade process for Polygon 2.0. Most recently, they collaborated with Near Foundation to build zkWASM for deploying Data Availability solutions.

Following the news, the MATIC token saw a slight increase from $0.81 to $0.85.

15-minute chart of MATIC/USDT trading pair on Binance. Screenshot taken at 10:05 PM on November 9, 2023.