Stablecoin Wars: USDT Dethrones USDC On Polygon As Gaming And NFTs Skyrocket

Tether (CRYPTO: USDT) has become the leading stablecoin on the Polygon (CRYPTO: MATIC) network in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023 with a $735 million market cap, surpassing USD Coin (CRYPTO: USDC).

Polygon's Q1 performance showcased consistent financial metrics, a stabilized DeFi ecosystem, and thriving NFT (non-fungible token) and gaming sectors, an analysis by cryptocurrency intelligence firm Messari revealed.

Polygon experienced steady financial metrics throughout Q1 2023. Total network fees saw a 93% surge quarter-over-quarter, amounting to $11.85 million due to higher transaction fees.

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The platform's account metrics experienced a slight reduction, averaging 400,000 daily active addresses and adding 22 million new addresses during the quarter.

DeFi Ecosystem Stability And DEX Dominance

The DeFi ecosystem on Polygon stabilized, concluding Q1 with a TVL of $1.2B.

Aave (CRYPTO: AAVE) dominated the lending protocol market, while Uniswap (CRYPTO: UNI) led DEX volume, responsible for 80% of the total volume.

Notably, USDT outperformed USDC, becoming the top stablecoin on Polygon with a $735 million market cap.

NFT Partnerships and Growth

NFTs remained a crucial focus for Polygon, with significant partnerships formed with companies like Mastercard (NYSE: MA), Shemaroo, PLAY! POP! GO!, Unstoppable Domains, and Rarible.

These collaborations contributed to the growth and expansion of the NFT space on the platform.

Gaming Sector Expansion

Gaming continued to be the main driver of network activity on Polygon.

Popular games like Planetix, SunflowerLand, Benji Bananas, and BoomLand Games fueled the platform's 115,000 daily active gaming wallets and 40 million total gaming transactions throughout the quarter.

Developer Initiatives and Recognition

Polygon maintained robust developer activity, launching Polygon Labs at the Pit accelerator and earning a mention in the 2022 Developer Report by Electric Capital.

The platform's developer ecosystem ranked among the top in the industry.

Decentralization, Staking, and Improvement Proposals

Polygon focused on decentralization and staking, with 3.8 billion MATIC worth $4.2 billion staked on the network. PIP-4, a proposal aiming to enhance validator self-regulation and transparency, suggested increasing the active validator set to 105.

We also witnessed the launch of the zkEVM Mainnet Beta, attracting notable partners such as Lens, Balancer, and The Graph.

Additionally, Polygon announced the spinoff of Polygon Avail to concentrate on data availability, aligning with Ethereum's roadmap.

Polygon ID: A Self-Sovereign Identity Solution

Polygon ID, an open-source self-sovereign identity solution, was made publicly available.

The solution enables anyone to act as an issuer, verifier, or holder of a Web3 identity and has already been adopted by multiple development teams.

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