Launched in 2017, Polygon (initially known as Matic Network) is one of the leading Layer 2 solutions for Ethereum, facilitating faster and cheaper transactions on the leading smart contract platform. Since it was first made available to crypto investors during a Launchpad event on Binance in 2019, MATIC gained over 33,100%, growing from $0.0026 to $0.8715.

The robust price growth begs the question of how much further Polygon could grow in the future. To answer this question, we’ve outlined several potential growth scenarios to produce Polygon price predictions for 2040 and 2050.

Long-term Polygon price prediction key takeaways:

• The price of Polygon increased by more than 33,100% since it was first offered on Binance Launchpad, from ~$0.0026 to over ~$0.8715.
• MATIC, the native token of the Polygon network, could reach $14.21 by 2040 and $106.14 by 2050 if it follows Bitcoin’s growth trajectory over the past 5 years.
• The accuracy of our long-term Polygon price forecasts depends on the realization of growth catalysts, primarily the increase in popularity of L2s for Ethereum. 

Before we dive further into price prediction scenarios and potential catalysts for Polygon growth, let’s take a look at how a $1,000 investment in Polygon could fare in the future:

*Price data was calculated using a $1,000 investment at a Polygon price of $0.8715 on May 15, 2023.
**The S&P 500’s average rate of return since 1957.

Polygon overview and price history

Polygon is a layer 2 solution for Ethereum, aiming to provide a solution for faster and more cost-effective transactions, as well as improved scalability and interoperability. It achieves this by using a network of sidechains, known as "Polygon PoS Chain," that are connected to the Ethereum mainnet. These sidechains enable faster and cheaper transactions by processing them off the main Ethereum network, while still benefiting from its security.

The main reason for Polygon’s growing popularity is the rise of the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, which provides users with a new avenue for using financial services like borrowing and lending, without needing to rely on banks and other traditional institutions.

Polygon was first introduced to the broader crypto community in 2019, when Binance users were able to obtain the project’s native token MATIC at a price of $0.00263. MATIC started trading at $0.005819, more than 100% above its Launchpad price. Since then, the token has exploded in value, gaining more than +14,800%, making it one of the most successful crypto projects to get its start via Binance’s IEO campaign.

Historically, Polygon has shown by far the most robust growth in 2021. During a period of explosive price growth in the crypto space, with Bitcoin peaking close to $70,000 and the total crypto market cap touching $3 trillion, Polygon reached its all-time high (ATH) of $2.91.

The most impressive quarter in Polyong’s history in terms of market performance was Q1 2021, during which MATIC gained nearly +2,000%.

So far, the only year when Polygon finished in the red zone was 2022, which saw the cryptocurrency lose -70% of its value. The primary reason for the drop was the broader retracement in the value of all crypto assets, high inflation, and a generally unfavorable economic situation in global markets.

Polygon price prediction for 2040

For the purpose of this long-term projection, we’ve used the S&P 500 index’s average yearly growth rate and the Polygon profit calculator. The S&P 500 is one of the most important indexes in the world and a good measure of the (US) economy. Since 1957, the S&P500 has shown an 11.8% annualized return. 

Polygon’s price prediction for 2040 based on the S&P 500 index’s historical ROI.

If Polygon were to grow at S&P 500’s historical rate, a $1,000 investment made in Polygon today would grow to $7,446 by 2040. Meanwhile, the price of a single MATIC token would grow from $0.8715 to ~$6.5 in 2040, an increase of 645%.

Since we are making assumptions about the price of a digital asset, a comparison with Bitcoin –  the most established and largest crypto asset – is arguably more appropriate. Over the past 5 years, Bitcoin had an annual compound return rate of 26.3%

Polygon’s price prediction for 2040 based on Bitcoin’s 5 yr. average annual return rate.

If a $1,000 investment in Polygon made today would grow at Bitcoin’s 26.3% annual rate, it would reach $66,874 by 2040. In other words, MATIC’s price would increase by +6,587% to more than $54 per token.

Polygon price prediction for 2050

Looking even further into the future, Polygon could see a massive increase over the next two decades, as long as it manages to sustain the growth rate of the broader economy.

Polygon’s price prediction for 2050 based on the S&P 500 index’s historical ROI.

If we again take the S&P 500’s historical returns as a basis, a hypothetical $1,000 investment in Polygon made in May 2023 would grow to $22,718 by 2050. In other words, Polygon’s current price of $0.8715 would increase by 2,171% to ~$18.5 in 2050.

Polygon’s price prediction for 2050 based on Bitcoin’s 5 yr. average annual return rate.

If we take Bitcoin’s historical ROI as a basis instead, we see that Polygon could increase by 27,746% to roughly $564 by 2050. In that case, a $1,000 investment would turn into $690,707 in the next 27 years. 

While the growth of the broader economy in the next 30 years is almost impossible to predict with any kind of certainty, it seems extremely unlikely that Polygon could sustain a 26% yearly growth over such a long period of time. At its current circulating supply, Polygon would command a $4.8 trillion market cap if 1 MATIC were worth $564.

Examining the main factors for Polygon’s long-term price growth

The main reason behind Polygon’s potential price growth and potential demise is one and the same: Ethereum scaling. At the moment, Ethereum can’t process more than 15 transactions per second (not to mention very high fees), creating a need for layer 2 solutions to take some of the computational burden off of the main chain. For context, Polygon can process up to 7,000 TPS at roughly $0.015 per transaction.

Once fully developed, Ethereum transactional throughput is expected to increase to 100,000. However, given the development pace of Ethereum so far, it is safe to assume that this will take years, if not decades. 

What’s more, even if Ethereum scales to 100,000 TPS in the future, that could still prove to be a bottleneck, especially if DeFi and NFT use cases grow at the rate predicted by some analysts. In that case, Polygon and other L2s could become even more important than they are today.

Polygon price prediction for 2023-2024: A new ATH next year?

The Polygon price prediction algorithm forecasts MATIC to reach a new ATH in Q1 2024.

According to the CoinCodex price prediction algorithm, Polygon could see very bullish action in the coming months. For starters, MATIC is forecasted to nearly triple in value in the next 3 months, reaching $2.45 by August – and that’s just the beginning.

By the end of the year, Polygon could start mounting a rally that could culminate with a new all-time high of more than $7 in Q1 2024. Polygon’s previous ATH was reached in December 2021, when the currency was changing hands at $2.91.  

It is worth noting that the Polygon price prediction for 2023 and 2024 is based on the state of technical indicators as of May 15th and could substantially change in the future.

The bottom line: Polygon’s future hinges on the popularity of Layer 2s for Ethereum

If Ethereum continues to grow and realizes its vision of becoming a “decentralized computer for the world” and scaling solutions retain their important role in the Ethereum ecosystem, then Polygon could see massive growth in the future. However, that’s a lot of “ifs”, and nobody can know for sure what will happen – Ethereum L2s could even become obsolete if native scaling improves sufficiently in the future.

If you want to check out additional long-term predictions for a variety of different crypto assets, check our forecasts for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, XRP, and Shiba Inu. If you are interested in traditional assets instead, give our Tesla, Microsoft, or Apple price prediction for 2040 and 2050 a read.