The Polygon Madhugiri hard fork is now live, marking a major step in the blockchain network’s plan to increase performance and support next generation digital asset use cases. The upgrade delivers a targeted 33 percent rise in throughput while reducing block consensus time to one second, significantly improving network responsiveness.
Polygon core developer Krishang Shah explained on X that the hard fork integrates support for three Fusaka Ethereum Improvement Proposals, including EIP 7823, EIP 7825 and EIP 7883. These updates are designed to make complex mathematical operations more efficient by limiting gas costs and preventing any single transaction from consuming excessive processing power. According to Shah, the changes will allow the network to function more predictably under heavy load.
The upgrade also introduces a new transaction type for Ethereum to Polygon bridge flows and adds built in flexibility to support future enhancements. Polygon previously noted that throughput improvements could be activated with minimal configuration following the hard fork, describing it as similar to “flipping a few switches.”
Shah wrote that blocks can now be announced in one second whenever ready, rather than waiting for the previous two second interval. This marks one of the fastest consensus times deployed on the network to date.
Performance upgrades prepare Polygon for stablecoins and RWAs
With Polygon Madhugiri operational, Polygon Labs is positioning the network for high frequency stablecoin payments and real world asset tokenization. Aishwary Gupta, global head of payments and RWAs at Polygon Labs, has predicted that the market is heading into a “stablecoin supercycle.”
Gupta expects a surge of more than 100,000 stablecoins over the next five years, but emphasized that growth will depend on utility, transparency and auditability rather than simple token issuance. He said that numbers alone cannot support the RWA market unless assets can be verified, settled and traded with clear accountability.
Gupta also stated that institutional capital will flow into the RWA sector only when transparency standards mature, noting that improved infrastructure can unlock “trillions” in long term demand.
Hard fork follows the Heimdall 2.0 upgrade
The Polygon Madhugiri hard fork builds on rapid development momentum across the network. On July 10, Polygon rolled out Heimdall 2.0, which Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep Nailwal described as the most technically complex hard fork since the network’s launch. The update cut transaction finality from one to two minutes down to roughly five seconds.
However, the network faced a disruption on Sept. 10 when a bug delayed finality by 10 to 15 minutes, disrupting validator sync and remote procedure call services. The Polygon team assured the community that blocks continued producing during the incident.
By Sept. 11, the Polygon Foundation confirmed that consensus and finality mechanisms were fully restored through another hard fork. Validators resumed normal operations, and checkpoints were once again finalizing as expected.
Conclusion
The Polygon Madhugiri upgrade strengthens the network at a time when demand for stablecoin transactions and real world asset tokenization is accelerating. By reducing consensus time and improving throughput, Polygon positions itself for the next wave of high trust financial applications while building on previous infrastructure upgrades.
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