Why Polygon’s Value Comes From Utility — Not Just Payments Every time a new partnership is announced, someone asks — “But how does this add value to Polygon?” They look at gas fees and think that’s the measure of success. But Polygon’s value isn’t just in the number of transactions — it’s in how useful those transactions make money once it’s on the network. Payments Are the Starting Line, Not the Finish Line: - Payment-only chains like Tron, Stellar etc. — are good at moving money. But they stop there. Money moves, then leaves. There’s no retention, no composability, no value capture. - Even legacy giants like MoneyGram and Western Union made their profits on on/off-ramps and FX spreads not because they innovated, but because users had no alternative. Now, with blockchains commoditising transfer costs, that moat is gone. So gas fees is not going to bring revenue. They’re coming on-chain simply to reduce cost, not because they add new value. That’s a race to the bottom. Polygon Builds a Global “Revolut-at-Scale” Now imagine the opposite: You hold money on Polygon and can: - Spend it or pay friends in Europe via Revolut using stablecoins on Polygon, - Use it in LATAM through Mercado Libre, Nubank, and so many other applications. - Receive it in Africa via Flutterwave, Yellow Card - Lend or borrow it on Morpho — instantly. - Seamlessly invest in tokenized financial products like BUIDL with Blackrock.. - Receive payroll via Deel, sent using ZK privacy with Railgun. Polygon turns every balance into programmable capital — usable, portable, and composable across markets. The same stablecoin that powers a remittance in Nigeria can fund DeFi in Singapore or buy an NFT in Paris. That’s not just “moving” money — that’s activating it. The Valuation Layer — Why Utility Wins Here’s the hard truth: Chains that only process payments will never justify high valuations. They’re modern plumbing — necessary but replaceable. Look at the fintech world for proof: Those fintechs that own the use case and the user are the most valuable. You realise that the chains with just plumbing have much less value as compared to fintech’s. The pattern is clear: Platforms that add layers of utility on top of payments — lending, investing, commerce, identity — command 5–10× higher valuations. Because they capture not just movement of value, but participation in value. Polygon’s architecture mirrors that same pattern — except it’s global from day one. The Polygon Flywheel Utility → Liquidity → Retention → Network Value When money can: Earn yield, Settle RWAs, Power on-chain credit, Move globally across users and apps, Pay for their bills. Spend their money via cards …it creates economic density, not just throughput. The more useful each Rupee or Dollar becomes on @0xPolygon, the higher the network’s intrinsic valuation — because it isn’t just processing value, it’s hosting it and very soon it will start to participate in the economics of it as well. Why This Matters - Payment-only chains will always be valued like infrastructure — finite upside, commodity economics. - Polygon, on the other hand, behaves like a global fintech super-stack — where money earns, trades, settles, and powers digital economies across continents. That’s why partnerships like @theflutterwave , @Mercadolibre, @stripe , @reliancejio, @Grab, and all the major financial institutions across the world etc along with institutions like JP Morgan, @BlackRock, Apollo Credit matter. Each one expands where money can work, not just where it can move. The Endgame: If Revolut and PayPal created value within regions, Polygon is creating that value globally, across markets and applications. And just like @Visa and @Mastercard dominate because they underpin every network, Polygon will command value because it underpins every use case — from payments to programmable finance. So next time someone asks: “But how does this add value to Polygon?” Tell them: “Because Polygon isn’t counting transactions — it’s compounding utility.”