Polygon Acquires Layer 2 Blockchain Hermez for $250 Million

Nathan van der Heyden

Aug. 13, 2021

Hermez is a Layer 2 solution based on zk-rollups. The acquisition will see the first token merger in the history of crypto.

Shutterstock cover by Zeedign

Key Takeaways

Polygon is spending $250 million to acquire all HEZ tokens and rebrand the Hermez Layer 2 to Polygon Hermez.
Polygon Hermez will be a true Layer 2 Ethereum solution, with low fees and low latency.
As part of the deal, HEZ holders will be able to exchange their HEZ tokens with MATIC tokens through a migration contract.

Polygon is acquiring Hermez Network in the first merger and acquisition deal involving two projects with tokens.

Hermez To Become Polygon Hermez

Formerly known as Matic network, Polygon has recently acquired Hermez Network, a ZK-Rollups-based Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution. The acquisition features the first token merger in crypto history, as Hermez’s HEZ will be integrated into Polygon’s MATIC token.

Polygon is an Ethereum compatible blockchain whose purpose has been to relieve some of the traffic from Ethereum while reducing fees drastically. This design decision has brought a lot of attention to Polygon, with many DeFi projects migrating to Polygon. Yield farming, often seen as too expensive on Ethereum due to high gas fees, has also seen a renaissance on the scaling solution.

Hermez’s Layer 2 solution is based on zero-knowledge rollups, often abbreviated to ZK-Rollups. This technology allows it to process transactions faster and for almost no fees while still leveraging the main Ethereum chain’s security. The merger will see the project named “Polygon Hermez,” and Hermez’s 26 employees join Polygon.

This is a historic event for crypto as never before had a project acquired another project with a token and merged both. From now on, MATIC will be used to pay for transactions on Hermez. HEZ holders will be able to exchange their tokens at a 3.5MATIC/1HEZ ratio.

Around 250 million MATIC tokens will compensate HEZ holders, representing around 12.5% of Polygon’s treasury. With Hermez, Polygon acquires what is most conventionally thought of as a Layer 2 solution, one built on top of Ethereum rather than in parallel like the Polygon Commit Chain, a proof-of-stake blockchain.

https://twitter.com/AndreCronjeTech/status/1426198787010277377

Critics have noted that the acquisition can seem like Polygon buying themselves a true Layer 2 solution rather than building it themselves. On the other hand, Polygon has announced it is doubling down on its ZK-centric strategy by committing a further $1 billion from its treasury to developing the technology.

Disclaimer: The author held ETH and several other cryptocurrencies at the time of writing.

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