Ethereum scaling solution Polygon today unveiled a new dedicated network for blockchain hosting called “Supernets” and announced a $100 million fund to encourage developers to use the technology.

Polygon is what is known as a Layer-2 scaling solution that provides developers infrastructure on top of the popular Ethereum blockchain to reduce transaction times and costs caused by congestion.

Blockchain technology is the basis of Web3, the decentralized web, which is made up of distributed peer-to-peer applications that run without the need for dedicated servers or centralized authority. Web3 applications are built out of self-executing programmable smart contracts that govern operations and logic over networks.

This fact can lead to challenges for developers because large-scale public blockchains such as Ethereum can suffer from massive congestion and loads, creating slowed transactions and high fees.

Polygon created Supernets as dedicated blockchain network hosting for individual Web3 applications for developers that scale with their projects. That means that any given application gets the benefits of scale – reduced transaction times and fees – while still being connected to the public Ethereum blockchain and to other Supernets.

The technology uses Polygon Edge, a framework for developers to run their own private networks with customizable features with full support for Ethereum smart contracts. That means that anything that would run on Ethereum will also run on a Supernet.

Because Supernets can communicate with one another and Ethereum, applications hosted in these dedicated networks can be interlinked as well. That will allow developers to rapidly spin up their own ecosystems or connect to other Supernet-hosted or Ethereum apps without any changes to their code.

“For mass adoption of Web3 to take hold, it is critical to abstract the complexities of blockchain development and simultaneously offer scaling ability and personalization,” said Mihailo Bjelic, co-founder of Polygon. “Polygon Supernets deliver all this, enabling any project to fast-track their blockchain ambitions and join the growing Polygon multichain ecosystem.”

Alongside the launch, Polygon also committed $100 million to a fund that will be used for grants to developers and projects built on top of Supernets. The company said the funds are immediately available and can be used for development, research, third-party integrations, project onboarding and acquisitions.

Polygon raised $450 million in venture capital in February to build out its Web3 scaling and infrastructure solutions. With the expansion of Polygon Edge and the launch of Supernets, the company said, it hopes that it will mainstream the adoption of blockchain technology by making it easier to build and host applications.

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