Polymarket migrates off Polygon
- Polymarket said it will replace core parts of its Polygon-based exchange on April 28, rolling out new smart contracts, a rebuilt order book and a new collateral token called pUSD. - The upgrade wipes all open orders, pauses trading for about one hour and forces developers onto a new V2 software kit, with no backward compatibility after launch. - The overhaul lands as Polymarket pushes into regulated markets and tighter geoblocking, including a U.S. return and fresh country restrictions. (docs.polymarket.com)
Polymarket is not leaving Polygon entirely, but it is replacing the guts of its exchange on April 28 with new contracts, a rebuilt order book and a new token called pUSD. (docs.polymarket.com) (theblock.co) The company called it its biggest infrastructure change since launch and said the upgrade will swap in CTF Exchange V2 and Neg Risk CTF Exchange V2. (theblock.co) (docs.polymarket.com) Polymarket’s April 17 changelog said the cutover starts around 11:00 UTC on Monday, April 28, 2026, with trading paused for about one hour. All existing open orders will be cleared during the migration. (docs.polymarket.com) The platform is also replacing USDC.e with pUSD, which its docs describe as a standard ERC-20 token on Polygon backed by USDC with onchain enforcement. (docs.polymarket.com) (theblock.co) For traders using the website, the disruption is mostly the maintenance window. For market makers, bots and outside apps, Polymarket said they must move to the V2 software development kit because the old setup will not keep working after go-live. (docs.polymarket.com) (theblock.co) The company said the rewrite reduces the number of fields in each order and cuts the operations needed to validate and match trades, which should lower gas use onchain. It is also adding EIP-1271 support so smart-contract wallets like Safe can sign orders directly. (theblock.co) Polymarket is making the change after a year of rapid growth. Its 2024 U.S. presidential winner market topped $3.13 billion in volume before Election Day, and CoinDesk later reported more than $3.6 billion traded by the time the contract resolved. (theblock.co) (coindesk.com) The company’s capital base has grown too. Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, agreed in October 2025 to invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket at a $9 billion post-money valuation. (axios.com) (theblock.co) At the same time, Polymarket has been tightening where users can actually trade. Its help center, updated this week, lists 33 fully blocked countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan, while some places such as Singapore are close-only. (help.polymarket.com) That restriction list sits beside a separate U.S. strategy. Decrypt reported in October 2025 that Polymarket bought QCX LLC for $112 million, giving it a Commodity Futures Trading Commission-licensed exchange that could self-certify contracts for American users. (decrypt.co) So the April 28 change is less a chain exit than an exchange rebuild. Polymarket is still on Polygon, but by Monday its pipes, collateral and trading logic are scheduled to look very different. (docs.polymarket.com) (theblock.co)
