Polygon (MATIC) helps Ethereum scale by offering faster and cheaper transactions. Many dApps use it to reduce costs for users, making it an important part of the Ethereum ecosystem.
As Ethereum improves its own scalability, Polygon is adapting by building new technologies like zk-rollups. This shows how supporting networks can evolve alongside their parent ecosystems. Do you see Polygon as a bridge solution—or as a permanent layer in crypto?
Well, Polygon is more like a "complement" to Ethereum rather than an independent solution. It's often referred to as a "sidechain" or L2 network. So far, it does the job pretty well as a highly-scalable Blockchain for ETH-based transactions. The new "ZK-Rollups" feature is "killer" in my opinion. Definitely makes Polygon stand out from the rest of the crowd (among chains of its class).
I seriously doubt Polygon will become an independent chain in the future. Especially when it's going to lose all of the security benefits of ETH. Among the L2 networks in existence (Arbitrum, Base, Optimism), I'd say Polygon is the most innovative. It's more a utility coin than a speculative one. I wouldn't expect it to become valuable during the course of its lifetime. There are other projects with more hype than Polygon itself. Even Binance Smart Chain (BNB) is faring better than Polygon. It might turn into another "Litecoin" in the future. At least, it's better something than nothing. We'll see what happens in the long run.