Matic Network 
 
Scalable, secure and instant blockchain transactions using sidechains, while ensuring 
asset security using the Plasma framework and a decentralized network of Proof-of-Stake 
(PoS) validators. 
 
Decentralized Apps are making huge progress but the current blockchain ecosystem is not prepared to 
scale as per the demand. Slow block confirmations, block size limitations and computations — in smart 
contract based blockchains — need to be solved before we target mass adoption by mainstream users. 
And most importantly, it needs an awesome user experience. 
 
With Matic Network, we aim to solve this by having Plasma-based side-chains on top of Ethereum for 
high scalability and secure transactions. 
 
One of the key pillars of Matic Network’s ideology is user experience which is very poor for Blockchain 
applications as of now.  
 
Matic Team has already built high-quality user experience Mobile/Web browser libraries (like 
WalletConnect) and tools such as Dagger which will enable businesses to create real-world end-user 
applications at large scale.  

What is Matic Network? 
 
Matic provides scalable, secure and instant transactions using sidechains based on an adapted 
implementation of Plasma framework for asset security and a decentralized network of Proof-of-Stake 
(PoS) validators. In short, it allows anyone to create scalable DApps while ensuring a superior user 
experience in a secure and decentralized manner. It has a working implementation for Ethereum on 
Ropsten Testnet. Matic intends to support other blockchains in the future which will enable it to provide 
interoperability features alongside offering scalability to existing public blockchains. 
 
Medium blog on what is Matic Network and tech architecture: 
https://medium.com/matic-network/what-is-matic-network-466a2c493ae1 
 
You can also read our whitepaper at ​https://whitepaper.matic.network 
 
Key things Matic wants to do: 
 

● Solve scalability by providing Layer 2 solutions 
● Application platform for DApp developers on Matic (developer experience like Stripe for DApps) 
● Provide assets interoperability via DEXs 
● Better UX/UI for mass adoption while having better security and scalability 



 
Matic intends to provide Matic wallet, payment APIs and SDKs, products, and other enabling solutions 
that will allow developers to design, implement and migrate DApps built on base platforms like 
Ethereum. Matic will also allow cross-chain transfers like BTC (using pegging) - that way, anyone can 
trade any currencies on Matic based DEX. 
 
User flow for crypto assets on Matic 
 

● User deposits crypto assets in Matic contract on the mainchain (currently implemented with 
Ethereum blockchain only)  

● Once deposited, tokens get confirmed on the mainchain, the corresponding tokens will get 
reflected on the Matic chain. 

● The user can now transfer tokens to anyone they want instantly with negligible fees. Matic chain 
has faster blocks (approximately 1 second or less). That way, the transfer will be done almost 
instantly.  

● Once a user is ready, they can withdraw remaining tokens from the mainchain by establishing 
proof of remaining tokens on Root contract (contract deployed on Ethereum chain) 

 
Remember any crypto assets can be represented as ERC20 or ERC721 tokens on Matic chain. That way, 
the same method will work for any fungible or non-fungible crypto assets like Bitcoin, crypto kitties and 
other tokens/NFTs. 
 
Tech architecture 
 
Matic ecosystem will have the following actors:  
 

● End Users  
● DApp developers:​  Developers will be the businesses who would be using Matic to scale their 

applications and provide a better UI/UX to their end users.  
● Stakers: ​ Stakers need to deposit/stake tokens to qualify and play a very important role in the 

Matic Network. They validate the transactions and propose checkpoints on the mainchain using 
PoS consensus mechanism with a ⅔ majority. They also choose Block Producers amongst 
themselves, who satisfy certain criteria, to produce blocks on the sidechains. 

● Block Producers:​ Block producers are chosen by Stakers and enable faster block generation 
times. They have to provide a significant stake to be nominated. 

 
Matic uses a dual strategy of Proof of Stake at the Checkpointing layer and the Block Producer layer to 
achieve the faster block times while ensuring the ​high degree of decentralization by achieving finality on 
the mainchain using checkpoints and fraud proofs (security). 
 
Anyone can stake their Matic tokens on root contract to become a Staker in the PoS checkpointing layer. 
This provides a high degree decentralized base layer for Matic chain and ensures liveliness of chain.  
 



At the Matic block layer, we have block producers selected by PoS Stakers on the base layer who will be 
creating the Blocks. To achieve faster block generation times these block producers will be few in 
number. ​ This layer will achieve  < 2-second block generation times at extremely low to negligible 
transaction fees. 
 

 
This diagram represents how Matic works on top of Ethereum 

 
 
To enhance the security of the transactions, Matic also provides Fraud Proofs on the mainchain. This 
mechanism enables any individual on the mainchain to submit the details of the transactions which 
he/she thinks is fraudulent. If the challenge is successful, the stakes of the parties involved in the fraud 
are slashed and the challenger receives the slashed funds as an incentive to detect the fraud. This can be 
considered an ever running high reward bounty program for any parties who want to investigate the 
veracity of the transactions on the Matic Network. 
 
You can also read our whitepaper at ​https://whitepaper.matic.network​ ​for more detail on the 
architecture and fraud proofs. 
 
Github link to our contracts: ​https://github.com/maticnetwork/contracts 
 
 
 

   



User and market adoption 
 
We want to enable multiple systems for users to increase adoption like: 
 
0x and other protocols 
 
The Medium blog explaining how 0x will work on Matic: 
https://medium.com/matic-network/dex-on-matic-network-with-0x-7c1890590dab 
 
Note that 0x contracts can be deployed on Matic and that’s why any relayer like Paradex will work on 
Matic. That way any user can trade instantly (~1 second) without waiting for block confirmations. 
 
Payments 
 
Matic will provide an interface for users and payment APIs and SDKs for DApps, merchant, and users to 
instantly accept or pay in crypto assets (e.g., ERC20 tokens, Ethers).  
 
We have plans to roll out this system in three phases:  
 

● Ethereum and ERC20 token payments  
● Multi-asset cross chain transfer and payment through atomic swaps and liquidity providers  
● Fiat enabled payment system through fiat liquidity providers 

 
Lending platform 
 
The Matic Network will enable a platform for merchants to assess the creditworthiness of connected 
users via their transaction history. This enables merchants to lend tokens to users on the network when 
transacting with users that do not have sufficient funds. This will use the Dharma protocol to provide 
tokenized debt to users. 
 
Games 
 
We expect games to be a big part of the Matic Network. In-game assets represented as NFTs (ERC721) are 
expected to be bought, sold and traded in huge numbers on our sidechains. Developers will also be able 
to save game state on the sidechains if they choose to. Along with the NFT marketplace that we will 
enable, developers and users will truly have a fast, efficient and secure sidechain to build and play games 
on. 
 
   



Dagger  
 
We have already started building infrastructure for developers, starting with Dagger; A notification 
engine to track Ethereum accounts and events in real-time. 
 
You can learn more about Dagger here: 
https://medium.com/matic-network/ethereum-in-realtime-dagger-98ee2d717c76  
and check how it works: ​https://medium.com/matic-network/understanding-dagger-453d90480c51 
 
Developers can use Dagger to track their own smart contracts, accounts, and transactions. They can 
create custom service or integrate with third-party services through IFTTT or Zapier. 
We also launched our Ethereum app on Zapier. Using that, anyone can integrate Ethereum with 
thousands of other apps 
 
Ethereum/Zapier invitation link:   
https://zapier.com/platform/public-invite/5455/044647aa32e38a80f68445871bcd6045/ 
 
Matic Wallet 
 
The Matic development team is working on building an easy-to-use Plasma wallet mobile app, integrated 
with WalletConnect, to ensure secure storage of keys, intuitive access to the features provided by the 
Matic Network, as well as a seamless mechanism to connect browser-based DApps to the mobile app. 
Users can interact with DApps on browsers and in the future many more devices, while still keeping their 
keys secure in their mobile wallet. 
 
The Matic wallet will act as a ready tool for DApp developers to get their users onboard and working with 
Matic sidechains quickly and efficiently. 

Research 

Generalized State scaling 
 
Generalized State scaling is the next frontier for the Matic Network, once the Matic Development Team is 
done with implementing micropayments, asset transfers and swaps in the first phase of development of 
the Matic Network. This is a research problem, and it will take time and effort to accomplish a 
breakthrough here. 
 
There are mainly 3 different approaches that the team has been researching and working on: 

● Stateful object programming model (separating code and state) 
● State transition verification through zk-snarks 
● State transition verification using an EVM-in-an-EVM construction