In its latest web3 endeavor, DraftKings, a digital sports entertainment and gaming company, announced today it will join the Polygon ecosystem as a validator and node operator, marking the first time a major publicly-traded firm has taken an active role in the blockchain’s governance.
Polygon validators are responsible for verifying the authenticity and validity of transactions on the network and earn rewards in return in a mechanism called Proof of Stake. All validators pledge Polygon’s native MATIC token as collateral for the right to run nodes, an essential part of blockchain infrastructure.
DraftKings has teamed up with B2B blockchain asset infrastructure provider Zero Hash to become one of Polygon’s 100 validators whose job includes producing blocks, validating consensus, and committing checkpoints to the Ethereum mainnet. More than 2.67 billion MATIC worth over $4 billion are currently staked by Polygon validators who have earned close to $770 million in rewards to date.
“DraftKings will take its place among existing validators as an equal community member, solidifying our desire to achieve a decentralized, community-run consensus network.
– Sandeep Nailwal, Co-Founder of Polygon
Polygon provides high transaction speeds and low fees without compromising on security. It is home to some of the biggest projects in this space, from decentralized finance protocols such as lending platform Aave to luxury brands company Dolce & Gabbana and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces.
To keep its growth going, Polygon is making major investments into zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography, a technology for privacy-enhanced blockchain scaling. The core development team made it a centerpiece of its strategic vision in the zero-knowledge Thesis published in August. As part of that mission, the team has committed $1 billion, a significant portion of the treasury, to ZK-related efforts.
DraftKings has announced several web3 initiatives in the past year, including launching an NFT marketplace featuring collections from Autograph, this strategic relationship with the Polygon blockchain, and an upcoming NFT-based game alongside the NFL Players Association.
“Gaining exposure to staking technology supports DraftKings’ broader strategy of building out a robust, sustainable, and decentralized infrastructure to help futureproof aspects of our business in the web3 era,” said Paul Liberman, Co-Founder & President of Global Product and Technology at DraftKings.