The Polygon blockchain network has implemented its latest protocol upgrade, termed the Madhugiri hard fork, which is designed to enhance network throughput by 33% and decrease block consensus time to one second.
Polygon core developer Krishang Shah announced on X that this update brings support for three Fusaka Ethereum Improvement Proposals: EIP-7823, EIP-7825, and EIP-7883. These changes aim to enhance the efficiency and security of computationally intense mathematical operations by reducing their gas consumption.
Additionally, they prevent any single transaction from consuming an excessive amount of computing power, ensuring smoother and more predictable network performance.
The upgrade introduces a new type of transaction for Ethereum to Polygon bridge activities and incorporates a built-in flexibility feature for future enhancements. Polygon previously stated that increasing throughput is as simple as “flipping a few switches.”
“We are also reducing the consensus time to just 1 second, allowing blocks to be announced in 1 second if prepared, instead of waiting the full 2 seconds,” Shah wrote.
The new update strengthens Polygon for stablecoins and RWAs
With the Madhugiri upgrade now active, Polygon aims to enhance its infrastructure while significantly boosting performance. These improvements are essential for high-frequency and high-trust applications like real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and stablecoin transactions.
Aishwary Gupta, the global head of payments and RWAs at Polygon Labs, had previously predicted a forthcoming “stablecoin supercycle.”
Gupta mentioned that we can expect the emergence of “at least 100,000 stablecoins” within the next five years. He emphasized that this will extend beyond mere token minting, necessitating accompanying utility yields.
Furthermore, Gupta advocated for increased transparency and accountability within the RWA sector, previously insisting that RWA metrics are irrelevant if the assets cannot undergo auditing, settlement, or trading.
“Once transparency and accountability are in place, RWAs will achieve even greater success, unlocking trillions in institutional capital,” he said.
Related: Polygon co-founder considers reviving MATIC a year after POL rebranding
This hard fork follows the significant Heimdall upgrade
The Madhugiri upgrade follows a series of rapid enhancements. On July 10, Polygon launched Heimdall 2.0, which Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep Nailwal referred to as the network’s “most technically intricate” hard fork since its inception.
This update reduced transaction finality times from one to two minutes, bringing them down to roughly five seconds.
However, on September 10, the network faced a major issue when a bug led to finality delays of 10 to 15 minutes, impacting validator sync, remote procedure calls, and third-party tools. The team assured the community that block production was still ongoing.
On September 11, the Polygon Foundation confirmed that the consensus and finality features had been restored via a hard fork. With this update, nodes were no longer stuck, and checkpoints and milestones were finalized as intended.
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