Polygon’s Sandeep Nailwal mulls reverting POL ticker to MATIC

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal is weighing a request to exchanges to revert the POL token ticker to MATIC, pointing to stronger recognition of the MATIC name. The idea comes seven months after the project completed its token migration under Polygon 2.0.

In an X post, Nailwal described the idea as a “thought experiment” driven by feedback from traders and everyday users. “Time and again, I keep hearing… MATIC was a far stronger and more familiar ticker — it had history, recognition, and stuck in people’s minds. So here’s an honest question: should we ask exchanges to revert just the ticker back to MATIC?” he wrote.

He noted he had resisted another change due to churn, and contrasted sentiment on Crypto Twitter with broader usage. “Projects shouldn’t be making decisions based on what CT thinks — it represents <5% of total crypto trading population,” he added. Nailwal pointed to examples from users who recognized MATIC, such as a shop owner in the Philippines and a ride-hailing driver in Dubai.

There is no certainty exchanges would support a switch. “No guarantees that exchanges would even agree to a revert — but who knows, it might be a trivial update on their end,” the post read. He asked for community feedback before any outreach to platforms.

Polygon began swapping the ticker from MATIC to POL in September 2024 under the Polygon 2.0 roadmap, which introduced a design focused on zero-knowledge technology and envisioned consolidated liquidity across networks. POL became the native gas and staking token on the Polygon PoS chain.

The current discussion concerns the label shown on exchanges, not the technical changes from the 2.0 upgrade. Nailwal has not given a timeline and is collecting input before deciding what to do next.