Why such giants as Sturbuks, Meta and Reddit chose Polygon

Key points: 

• Polygon has already partnered with Starbucks, Reddit, Nike, and Disney. 
• Ryan Wyatt, the CEO of Polygon, claims the team's "secret source" is bringing together seasoned big tech veterans with Web3 natives, that can help Web2 brands bridge the hump and embrace NFT and decentralized models.
• Wyatt hinted at its upcoming zkEVM scaling technology.
• Polygon also has big plans for Web3 gaming. 
• NFT marketplace Magic Eden announced plans to support polygonal NFTs and several upcoming blockchain-based gaming projects.

In a brutal crypto-economic downturn where the FTX debacle only made things worse, blockchain platforms have shown time and again that they can still integrate mega-brands with a collective reach of billions into a Web3 world: Polygon, Ethereum scaling network.

Recent highlights include the Polygon meta-tap allowing Instagram users to mint NFTs, Starbucks building an NFT-driven loyalty rewards program, Reddit minting unique NFT avatars, Nike unveiling plans to mint digital apparel NFTs, and building an NFT collection with Disney following Polygon’s involvement in the accelerator program of the entertainment giant.

The resulting excitement has not only driven up the price of Polygon’s MATIC token and established Polygon Studios and CEO Ryan Wyatt’s reputation as a business developer, but the early results of these projects have been instructive. Reddit recently stated that its users have created more than 3 million Polygon wallets to claim free NFT avatars, creating momentum around them and the wider crypto space.

Wyatt told that when he joined Polygon Studios in February -- after years of running YouTube's gaming business -- he saw the need to hire more people with traditional web and brand experience to handle high-tech issues in order to compete with the proficient Developers working on Web3 who are already in the space. "I wanted to fill that void," he said.

"With Web2 [enterprises], the impact is bigger, and it's always bigger with these partners because they're getting into this space for the first time," Wyatt said. "So they're very strategic about how to do it. You want to talk about it. It's a different experience."

Whether a Web2 brand or new to cryptocurrency, Wyatt said his team's goal is basically the same: understand a potential partner's Web3 vision, convince them that Polygon is the ideal platform to build on, and then provide support to make that vision a reality.

Bringing together seasoned big tech veterans with Web3 natives who "live and breathe this space" has created a team at Polygon Studios that can help Web2 brands bridge the hump and embrace NFT and decentralized models, Wyatt said. "It's the secret sauce of the team," he added.

Polygon is gaining mainstream brand acceptance, but Wyatt admitted that he thinks the studio team's advantage over competing for scaling solutions like Immutable X and Arbitrum may not last.

"Over time, this is something that others will emulate," he said. "I think we're going to seize the moment."

But branding can also create network effects, convincing other companies to build on Polygon. While Wyatt is best known for Ethereum sidechains that enable chapter transactions faster than Ethereum mainnet, he also hinted at its upcoming zkEVM scaling technology, suggesting it assures developers that they "will always be able to use Polygon protocol".

He also believes that Ethereum is increasingly seen as a solidly established platform for most Web3 users and developers, and Polygon offers brands the opportunity to launch large-scale projects in this ecosystem.

Push from polygon

Wyatt declined to reveal new details about his celebrity partnership program but commented on some of their initiatives. He called Meta's plan to unlock NFT minting for Instagram's estimated 2 billion users a "prescient" move and said Starbucks was "ahead of its time" with its original rewards program and that the coffee giant "understood" the factors affecting NFT use cases.

Meanwhile, Wyatt said Reddit’s announcement that its NFT avatars had inspired 3 million new Polygon wallet users was “a huge win for our industry.” And more on investigating use cases that aren't speculative frenzy and right-click save pushback topics.

Wyatt acknowledged that competing Ethereum scaling solution Immutable X — developed by Immutable, a game developer and publisher itself — has made early progress in guiding game developers to build on Web3. "Thanks to the team," he said.

But the gaming and esports veteran hinted that Polygon also has big plans for Web3 gaming and that some of its previous gaming announcements have been overshadowed by its big brand partnerships — a "champagne problem," in his view. "As you know, given my background, I would never sleep in that category," Wyatt said of the game.

On Tuesday, NFT marketplace Magic Eden announced plans to support polygonal NFTs and several upcoming blockchain-based gaming projects.

He doesn't think the fallout from FTX's demise will directly affect brands looking to build and experiment with Web3. If anything, disruption and sprawl demonstrate the importance of decentralized protocols over traditional centralized platforms, he said.

"Ultimately, a lot of these things will be resolved in a real, decentralized world," he said. “If you think about where these problems happen, they are centralized exchanges and intermediaries in Web3, right? When you start to see a decentralized world, it’s easier to use and build, and I think you will get rid of All these things."

Wyatt invited more partners to come, indicating that the brand's momentum continues. But he's also keen to encourage more Web3-native builders to build tools for the Polygon ecosystem such as, for example, wallets, marketplaces, and on-ramps, as well as building decentralized finance (DeFi) in an industry that has just learned the hard lessons of centralized entities.

"What you should ultimately hold us accountable for is bringing a billion people to Web3," he said, "and I think we're going to do that in a number of different ways."