According to a new study published on Wednesday by blockchain development platform Alchemy, the number of applications on Polygon’s self-described Ethereum layer 2 is rapidly rising and the ecosystem is gradually becoming autonomous from projects on the Ethereum ecosystem.
Since last year, the number of apps on the chain has increased from 30 to over 3,000. Alchemy has also observed a 61% rise in the number of teams constructing the chain month after month. According to Alchemy product manager Mike Garland, Polygon is expanding “two times faster than Ethereum did at this stage in its lifetime.”
While Polygon is frequently referred to as a sidechain, and developers are trying to portray it as a supplement rather than a rival to Ethereum, statistics indicate that the number of new Polygon-native applications is outstripping the number of apps deployed to both chains — perhaps an indication of increasing independence. According to Alchemy’s report, only 38% of newly deployed Polygon apps are built using both Polygon and Ethereum, compared to 62% using Polygon only.
