Polygon PoS by Polygon Labs: status and timeline

Polygon PoS

Polygon PoS is a Proof of Stake sidechain that scales Ethereum by running a separate consensus layer. Validators stake $POL; users pay gas in POL or bridged tokens.

DeployStage 4 of 5

8B transactions, $3T volume. Rio hardfork achieved 5,000 TPS. 99% of MATIC migrated to POL.

Checked 10 Oct0 updates this week

Milestones

Next · 99% MATIC to POL migration

Polygon PoS mainnet launchJun 2020Complete.
Series A funding $450MFeb 2022Complete.
Rio hardfork: 5,000 TPS8 Oct 2025Complete.
99% MATIC to POL migrationTarget 2026Current milestone.
AggLayer integrationTarget Q3 2026Not yet reached.

Upcoming

202699% MATIC to POL migration (next)
Q3 2026AggLayer integration

Current obstacles

Validator decentralizationPolygon PoS requires enough validators to be truly decentralized, preventing collusion or validator downtime.
Bridge securityThe PoS bridge to Ethereum must remain secure as more assets cross it; future Ethereum upgrades may enable simpler designs.

Physics limits

Consensus overheadProof of Stake consensus overhead limits throughput; Polygon targets 5,000 TPS but cannot exceed fundamental limits of the validator network.
Ethereum dependencyPolygon PoS security ultimately relies on Ethereum's finality for checkpoints, so it cannot be faster or more final than Ethereum allows.

How it works

3 parts

Validators

Stake $POL to validate

Validators stake $POL to produce blocks and earn transaction fees. Rewards and slashing incentivize honest behavior.

Checkpoints

Periodic Ethereum anchor

Validators periodically submit checkpoints to Ethereum, creating a security anchor without requiring every transaction on L1.

Bridge

Move assets between chains

Users bridge assets from Ethereum to Polygon using a proof-of-stake based bridge, or use DEX liquidity for instant swaps.

Spec sheet

Spec	Polygon PoS
Total transactions processed	8B+^R (reported)
Total transfer volume	$3.0T^R (reported)
Throughput after Rio hardfork	5,000+ TPS^R (reported)
Settlement finality	2-5 seconds^R (reported)
Average transaction cost	$0.002^R (reported)

^R reported by the company

About Polygon Labs

The team behind Polygon PoS

Polygon Labs

Ethereum scaling, AggLayer, Polygon PoS

Polygon Labs develops the Polygon ecosystem of Ethereum scaling solutions. Polygon PoS is a sidechain with 5,000+ TPS; AggLayer enables unified liquidity and cross-chain messaging across Polygon's rollups, validiums, and chains.

Polygon PoS: 8B transactions, $3T volume. Rio hardfork achieved 5,000 TPS.
AggLayer connects 16+ chains for unified liquidity and cross-chain messaging via ZK proofs.
Stablecoin volume: $79.25B as of May 2026, handling 53% of global USDC.

polygon.technology (opens polygon.technology)Company profile →

Founded: 20179 yrs
Headquarters: India
Status: Private
Valuation: $13BprivateFeb 2022
Raised: $450M2 rounds
Last round: Series A (announced as $450M) · $450MFeb 2022
Works in: CryptoBlockchains (L1s)
Coverage: 2 programs · 4 updateslatest 1 Feb 2026checked 10 Oct
Lead investors: Sequoia CapitalTiger GlobalCoinbase VenturesZBS Partners
Partners: Ethereum (opens ethereum.org)
People: Sandeep Nailwal (opens linkedin.com)Co-founder & Executive Chairman

Spec

Polygon PoS

Total transactions processed

8B+^R (reported)

Total transfer volume

$3.0T^R (reported)

Throughput after Rio hardfork

5,000+ TPS^R (reported)

Settlement finality

2-5 seconds^R (reported)

Average transaction cost

$0.002^R (reported)