Polygon has reduced its average block time to 1.75 seconds as the network expands infrastructure built around stablecoin payments and institutional settlement tools.
Summary
- Polygon reduced its average block time to 1.75 seconds to increase transaction throughput for stablecoin payments and DeFi activity.
- The network has recently introduced shielded stablecoin transfers verified through zero-knowledge proofs while maintaining compliance checks through KYT screening.
Polygonscan data showed the latest Polygon blocks were being produced in 1.75 seconds after the network implemented its first block-time reduction since launch. Polygon software engineer Lucca Martins said the change increases Polygon’s theoretical throughput to roughly 3,260 transactions per second, allowing the network to process about 14% more payments per second.
Faster block production can shorten transaction queues during periods of congestion, reducing delays and fee spikes tied to payment activity, decentralized finance trading, and stablecoin transfers.
Under Polygon Improvement Proposal PIP-86, the latest upgrade forms part of a two-stage plan that also proposes cutting block times further to 1.5 seconds. The proposal additionally seeks to reduce checkpoint rewards to keep Polygon’s annual POL token emissions near the targeted 1% level after the throughput increase.
Polygon expands stablecoin infrastructure for institutions
Earlier this week, Polygon introduced a wallet feature that routes stablecoin transfers through a shielded pool verified with zero-knowledge proofs as part of its integration with Hinkal. Polygon said the system keeps transaction details hidden from public view while still screening activity through Know Your Transaction checks before execution.
Polygon community lead Smokey said businesses require operational privacy for financial activity rather than systems designed to avoid oversight. Polygon stated in its earlier announcement that institutions already operate within confidential payment environments in traditional finance and require similar protections for blockchain-based transfers.
According to Hinkal’s documentation, users can generate auditable transaction files for regulators and tax authorities without exposing transfers in real time on-chain. Polygon said the feature is intended to preserve compliance access for authorities while limiting public visibility into payment flows.
The network has increasingly focused on stablecoin payment infrastructure over recent months. In an April report, Polygon Labs disclosed plans to seek as much as $100 million in additional funding for a payments stack involving Coinme and Sequence.
Data from DeFiLlama showed Polygon’s stablecoin market capitalization reached $3.6 billion on April 10, placing the network among the larger chains for stablecoin activity. Polygon Labs has also stated that the network processes a significant share of non-USD stablecoin transfers tied to local currency payments.
Traditional payment firms have continued expanding stablecoin settlement experiments on Polygon’s infrastructure. On April 29, Visa added Polygon, Base, the Canton Network, Arc, and Tempo to its stablecoin settlement pilot launched in 2023. Visa said the program allows partners to settle transactions using stablecoins instead of conventional banking rails to test whether digital assets can improve settlement speed.
Additional payment integrations have already gone live on the network. In April, Meta Platforms began offering select creators payouts in USDC through wallets on Polygon and Solana, with Stripe processing the transactions and supporting tax reporting tools.
Despite the network upgrades and payment-focused expansion, Crypto.news data showed Polygon’s (POL) token trading near $0.09 at the time of writing, down 54% over the past year.
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