Mark Cuban invests in Indian crypto startup Polygon

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban of Shark Tank fame has invested in Polygon, an Indian cryptocurrency platform that aims to provide faster and cheaper transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. Polygon's native token Matic has crossed a market cap of over $10 Billion and is among the top 20 crypto coins globally.

Formerly called Matic Network, it was founded in 2017 by Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal, and Anurag Arjun, with Serbia's Mihalio Bjelic later coming on board as the co-founder. Polygon started reflecting among Cuban's portfolio of companies on May 25. He also confirmed the investment in an email to CoinDesk, stating that 'I was a Polygon user and find myself using it more and more."

Making Ethereum better 

It was started to provide faster and cheaper transactions on the popular programmable blockchain Ethereum, by using Layer 2 sidechains, which are blockchains that run alongside the Ethereum main chain. Its scaling solutions have seen widespread adoption, with over 250 decentralised applications, 76 million transactions, and 790,000 unique users.

From Matic Network to Polygon

In February this year, Matic became Polygon, in a bid to widen its scope. It is now a platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development, where it helps in 2 types of solutions- secured chains or Layer 2 chains and stand-alone chains or Sidechains.

While Layer2 scaling solutions rely on Ethereum for security, the Sidechains are fully in charge of their own security. "Polygon transforms Ethereum into a full-fledged multi-chain system or an Internet of Blockchains", the startup had said in a blog post.

Mark Cuban loves crypto

Cuban, an American billionaire entrepreneur, who owns NBA's Dallas Mavericks and one of the main 'shark' investors on the television series Shark Tank, has invested in over 10 blockchain startups and is bullish on the future of cryptocurrencies. His crypto portfolio comprises 60% Bitcoin, 30% Ethereum, with other coins accounting for the rest. He sees Bitcoin as a store of value, rather than a currency and said that it is a better alternative to gold.

Covid19 relief efforts

In one of the largest-ever individual philanthropy efforts, Vitalik Buterin, the creator of Ethereum, recently donated over one billion worth of Shiba Inu Coin to  India's COVID-Crypto Relief Fund, set up by Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal. “I think we will eventually get around $50 million. If Elon Musk or some celebrity talks about it again, maybe $100 million but more than that is unlikely,” Sandeep Nailwal, had told Moneycontrol on the actual money that would come in.