# Polygon

The **Polygon PoS chain** is an EVM-compatible ethereum sidechain, secured by a permissionless set of PoS validators and checkpoints submitted to Ethereum. It uses **MATIC** as the native token for transactions.

See the [Polygon documentation](https://www.xdaichain.com/) for more details.

## Connecting via MetaMask

See [this guide](https://docs.matic.network/docs/develop/metamask/config-polygon-on-metamask/) from the Polygon documentation to connect your [MetaMask](https://metamask.io/) extension to the Polygon PoS chain.

**Alternative RPCs:**

* <https://rpc-mainnet.matic.network/>
* <https://rpc-mainnet.maticvigil.com/>
* <https://rpc-mainnet.matic.quiknode.pro/>
* <https://matic-mainnet.chainstacklabs.com/>
* <https://matic-mainnet-full-rpc.bwarelabs.com/>
* <https://matic-mainnet-archive-rpc.bwarelabs.com/>

## Polygon Faucet

For anyone interested in experimenting with Polygon before bridging tokens from the Ethereum mainnet or any other sidechain through [xPollinate](https://xpollinate.io/), you can use the Polygon faucet to claim 0.001 MATIC for free, which is enough to execute a few transactions on Polygon.

{% embed url="<https://macncheese.finance/matic-polygon-mainnet-faucet.php>" %}

## Bridging Tokens from Ethereum

To transfer MATIC or ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum network to MATIC or ERC20 tokens on the Polygon PoS network use the [Polygon Bridge](https://wallet.matic.network/bridge).

## Bridging Tokens from other Sidechains

To transfer stablecoins between sidechains using the [xPollinate](https://xpollinate.io/) bridge, which uses [Connext](https://connext.network)'s State Channels, a technology that enables bridging without introducing any new trust assumptions or external validators.

Currently supports the transferring of DAI, USDC and USDT between the Polygon, xDai, Fantom and BSC mainnets.

{% content-ref url="xpollinate" %}
[xpollinate](https://wiki.1hive.org/guides/xpollinate)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Other Info

The Polygon [Block Explorer](https://polygonscan.com/), similar to Etherscan, can be used to see transactions and accounts.

If you need help getting connected or using any of the above services, come to the [`#⛈help`](https://discord.gg/SRYMKh3C4W)Discord channel.