Developer details for α-Mainnet! — Matic Network Blog

Matic Network is a decentralized platform using an adapted version of the Plasma framework to provide a solution for faster and extremely low-cost transactions.

The Alpha-Mainnet is Matic Network’s sidechain working on the top of Ethereum Mainnet. The developers can build and test their full end to end applications with this alpha-mainnet. This is a public launch, however, the staking functionality will be added later.

Projects building on Matic — Decentraland, Chainbreakers.io, BetProtocol, CryptoStaw, Cryptocontrol and the other increasing number of partners and developers — will be among the first to start building on the Matic α-Mainnet.

It is a major step forward for our Mainnet release. We had initially communicated that we will have releases in three phases before the mainnet launch. These are in place to ensure we can phase out the network in a secure and battle-tested manner. The phases are listed below:

• Final Testnet — (Deployed on 3rd June)
• α-Mainnet — Nicknamed तपस (Tapas) (Q2 2019) — The current release
• Beta Mainnet v0.1 — Nicknamed आरंभ (Aarambh) (Q3 2019)

Note: Please note that this is an early version of the Mainnet so there is a limit on the funds that can be deposited to the sidechain. Currently, the limit is set to 10 Tokens that can be deposited, i.e users can deposit only up to 10 DAI to the sidechain.

Do not deposit any arbitrary token to the sidechain without getting in touch with the team first.

Currently, the tokens that are mapped and available to be used on Matic sidechains are:

DAI Token on Ethereum Mainchain: 0x89d24A6b4CcB1B6fAA2625fE562bDD9a23260359
DAI Token on Matic Chain: 
0xc585e22204CE8ab2A00B44C7d214f6ff25760239
Test Token on Ethereum Chain: 0xd391dd06730931c84cc168e54466b234451c1a0e
Test Token on Matic Chain: 0x9d3f6e51a7c485381afd53802ff828b083db403c

What’s possible with the α-Mainnet?

Matic Chains are Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible and extremely developer friendly: Deploying smart-contracts is similar to deploying contracts on Ethereum using tools like Remix, Truffle. Teams developing on Ethereum can immediately port their existing smart contracts and begin testing on Matic sidechains.

ERC-20 & ERC 721 transfers are currently secured with Plasma guarantees on the Matic sidechains whereas the smart contracts that are deployed on Matic sidechains will have Proof-of-Stake security.

To read more about how you can interact with the α-Mainnet refer to

Matic Alpha-Mainnet — Introduction | Matic

A simple workflow of Matic’s Plasma functionality for ERC-20 & ERC-721 transfers:

1. User deposits crypto assets in the Matic contract on main-chain (currently implemented with Ethereum blockchain only)
2. Once deposited tokens get confirmed on the main chain, the corresponding tokens will get reflected on the Matic chain.
3. The user can now transfer tokens to anyone they want instantly with negligible fees. Matic chain has faster blocks (approximately 1 second or less). That way, the transfer will be done almost instantly.
4. Once a user is ready, they can withdraw remaining tokens from the main chain by establishing proof of remaining tokens on Root contract (contract deployed on Ethereum chain)

One can use Matic Wallet to perform and test all the above steps.

How to download Matic Wallet?
You will need to register to download the Matic Wallet app that supports the α-Mainnet. To register, please click on this link

What not to expect from the α-Mainnet:

1. Unlimited asset transfers from Ethereum; the α-Mainnet will have restrictions in terms of the amount of Ethereum mainnet assets you can move to Matic at this point in time
2. Open sourcing of code — The complete code-base will be released to the public, post completion of the security audit and bug bounty program just prior to the final mainnet launch
3. Staking will not be possible with real tokens as yet, it will come up in the upcoming releases
4. Staking pools and rewards
5. Watchtowers to watch the sidechains

How do I get a Matic Network address?

Matic Network is Ethereum/EVM compatible. Any address created on Ethereum will work for Matic as well. One can use Matic Wallet or any other Ethereum wallet to create a Matic address.

Setting up Matic’s α-Mainnet

- In order to view the flow of funds on the Matic Network using Matic.js, you will need to configure Matic’s Alpha-mainnet URL — https://alpha.ethereum.matic.network

- You can read this tutorial on how to setup Matic’s Alpha-mainnet RPC on Metamask here — https://docs.matic.network/alpha-mainnet/conf-alpha-mainnet-metamask/

- For reference, to add Matic’s Alpha-mainnet on Metamask, click on the Network selection dropdown and then click on Custom RPC. In the Settings tab, you can add the URL — https://alpha.ethereum.matic.network

In case of any queries please feel free to ask them at
https://stack.matic.network/

In case you are interested in building on Matic, please reach out to us on: connect@matic.network

Originally published at https://blog.matic.network on June 29, 2019.