Polymarket announced on Monday its largest infrastructure overhaul to date, replacing its bridged USDC.e collateral with a new platform-specific token called Polymarket USD while rebuilding its entire trading engine under upgraded smart contracts.
Polymarket USD Replaces USDC.e
The prediction market platform said the new collateral token is backed 1:1 by USDC (USDC) and will be issued directly by Polymarket. It replaces the bridged USDC.e that had served as the platform's base asset since launch.
For most users, the conversion will happen automatically through the interface with a one-time approval.
Advanced traders and bot operators will need to manually convert their funds by calling a wrap function on the platform's collateral contract.
The rollout is expected to take two to three weeks. All existing orders will be canceled during a brief maintenance window, and the company said it will provide at least one week of advance notice before the cutover.
"We'll give plenty of notice before that happens so you can plan ahead," the team wrote.
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Trading Engine Overhaul
Alongside the collateral change, Polymarket is deploying CTF Exchange V2 — a rebuilt order book system with updated smart contracts. The upgrade introduces faster order matching, lower gas costs, and support for smart contract wallets through EIP-1271 signatures.
It also adds builder codes for onchain order attribution and reworked fee collection logic. API traders will need to update to the latest version of the CLOB-Client SDK, available in Typescript, Python, and Go.
Platform Direction
The upgrade builds on a partnership with Circle for native USDC infrastructure that Polymarket announced earlier in 2026. That arrangement laid the groundwork for eliminating bridged assets entirely.
The changes do not address the platform's long-rumored POLY governance token.
Polymarket's CMO confirmed in Oct. 2025 that a POLY airdrop is planned, but it remains tied to the company's U.S. relaunch and carries no confirmed timeline. The two initiatives are separate, and Polymarket has drawn no official connection between them.
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