Polygon developers have scheduled the MATIC to POL token swap to begin September 4, according to a July 18 blog post. The migration has been in the works for a long time—the team first announced the plan this time last year.

During that time, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal said on Twitter he’s often been asked when it’ll happen.

“One recurring ask from the community was to have a definitive date on MATIC [to] POL migration, he wrote.

Polygon developers decided to include a transition from the current MATIC token to a new POL token in a major protocol upgrade. The token swap is part of a broader move for Polygon to become a “network of networks.”

The POL upgrade was implemented on July 17 on a test network in order to identify any potential issues such as bugs and vulnerabilities, according to the Polygon Labs post. This low-stakes test is meant to make it less likely for the upgrade to go sideways on the main network where real users and real assets are located.

The team touts it as a “3rd generation token” with the first generation being Bitcoin and the second one Ethereum. After September 4, POL will serve as the native gas and staking asset for Polygon’s PoS blockchain in addition to validating chains in its aggregated network ecosystem.

POL will allow holders to become validators on Polygon-based chains while MATIC will be deprecated as part of the upgrade. Today’s announcement highlighted that users holding MATIC on Polygon’s proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain will have their tokens upgraded into POL with no action required on their part. Still, a remote procedure call settings update in the wallet may be needed to ensure that the tokens are listed as POL instead of MATIC.

Those who hold MATIC on Ethereum, a zkEVM platform, or centralized exchanges may instead need to take action in order to upgrade to POL, the team wrote in its blog post. Migration on Ethereum can be performed by sending tokens to the migration contract or by using decentralized exchanges (DEXs) or DEX aggregators.

Holders using zkEVMs need to either bridge their tokens to the Ethereum blockchain and follow the instructions above, or use a zkEVM DEX or DEX aggregator. MATIC held on centralized exchanges will be treated differently on a case-by-case basis, users should consult information put forward by the exchange that holds their tokens. Still, the announcement suggests that no action will likely be needed on most major centralized cryptocurrency exchanges.

A deadline for users to complete the swap has not been set. Previously it was rumored to be four years or more, but the announcement notes that “the community will have the power to establish a deadline in the future.”

Edited by Stacy Elliott.