MATIC is the native cryptocurrency of Polygon, a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum.
MATIC is an ERC-20 token, which means it is built on the Ethereum blockchain. It is used to pay transaction fees on Polygon, which is a sidechain of Ethereum. It secures the network through proof-of-stake consensus. This means that validators are required to stake tokens in order to participate in the consensus process. This helps to ensure the security of the network by making it more expensive for attackers to mount a successful attack.