Polygon (POL) cut its average block time by 250 milliseconds to 1.75 seconds, the first such reduction since the network's genesis.
Block Time Cut
Blockchain explorer Polygonscan shows the new figure on recently produced blocks.
The change lifts theoretical throughput by roughly 14%, taking the network to about 3,260 transactions per second, Lucca Martins, a Polygon software engineer, said on X.
Shorter block times let transaction backlogs clear faster.
That matters most for high-frequency activity such as stablecoin transfers, retail payments and decentralized finance trades, where fee spikes during congestion erode usability.
The shift falls under PIP-86, a two-step proposal authored by Simon Dosch. The motion plans a further drop to 1.5 seconds and a recalibration of checkpoint rewards to keep POL emissions near the 1% target, the Polygon community forum reads.
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Engineer Commentary
The block change matters because Polygon is now competing for institutional payment flows. Faster blocks help clear backlogs and curb fee spikes, the kind of friction that pushes corporate users toward private rails.
Adam Dossa, senior vice president of engineering at Polygon Labs, told DL News in an earlier interview that the network was widening capacity to stay ahead of stablecoin demand rather than wait for congestion.
"Ultimately, we want to get up to 5,000, 10,000 transactions per second," Dossa told the outlet.
Despite the technical progress, POL traded near $0.09 at the time of writing, flat over 24 hours and down about 54% for the year, CoinMarketCap data shows.
Payments Pivot
Polygon has spent recent months stitching itself into traditional payment rails. On Apr. 29, Visa added the network to its stablecoin settlement program alongside Base, the Canton Network, Arc and Tempo, with the pilot running at a roughly $7 billion annualized rate.
The Rio hardfork in October introduced a validator-elected block producer model and laid out a path to 5,000 TPS, the company stated at the time.
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