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Polygon Community Votes to Unlock $640 Million in Tokens for Grants
Blockchain tech and gaming company Polygon has announced that its community has voted to unlock the equivalent of $640 million worth of tokens for the purpose of community grants. The initiative aims to support the best projects across the Polygon Layer 2 blockchain and the broader Ethereum landscape.
The Community Treasury has been created following community consensus, with one billion POL tokens set to be unlocked over 10 years. This will amount to about 100 million POL tokens per year, all dedicated to builders within the community. Season 01 of the Community Grants Program will kick off with the distribution of 35 million MATIC tokens (equivalent to $27 million) to projects building on Polygon.
Season 01 Community Grants Program
The Community Grants Program will utilize the funds from the Community Treasury for grantmaking purposes. While the Community Treasury accrues POL tokens, grants for Season 1 will be denominated in MATIC due to an ongoing token upgrade from MATIC to POL. Applications for grants are now open.
The initiative aims to establish an open, community-aligned funding framework that leverages professional Grant Allocators to distribute a portion of the Season 01 funds. Builders have been pivotal to Polygon’s success, actively participating in hackathons, accelerators, global meetups, and startup support programs.
Developers within the Polygon community have been instrumental in driving the platform’s growth across various protocols and technologies. This has fostered a diverse and thriving community centered around blockchain technology.
What initially began as Village Grants, focusing solely on grants from Polygon Labs, has evolved based on community consensus to establish the Community Treasury. Today, applications are open for the Community Grants Program (CGP).
As the token upgrade from MATIC to POL progresses (with POL set to gradually replace MATIC over the next four years), grants for Season 1 will be distributed in MATIC, with 35 million MATIC tokens (equivalent to $22.7 million) allocated for the first season.
Grant Program Tracks
The inaugural season of the grant program offers two distinct tracks for applicants. The General Grant Track is open to anyone building on Polygon, with a focus on developer tooling, protocol infrastructure, and dApps. The Consumer Crypto Track, on the other hand, targets projects driving crypto adoption, including gaming, NFT innovations, and decentralized social applications.
Projects seeking grants must be building on Polygon or be willing to migrate to the platform for the long term. Notable projects that have benefited from Polygon grants include Quickswap, Keom, Jokerace, and Intraverse.
Community-First Funding Approach
The framework for deploying treasury grant funds is open to community feedback, emphasizing a community-first approach to funding. While the first season of CGP focuses on “consumer crypto,” the ultimate goal is to support developers throughout their building process, recognizing that true innovation often requires taking risks along the way.
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