The Polygon Ithaca upgrade is now live on mainnet, marking another step in the network's push toward faster and more reliable onchain payments.
The update arrives as Chain crosses 7.8 billion total transactions, and it lands alongside a wave of new stablecoin and payment integrations across the ecosystem.
According to Polygon's official Ithaca hard fork announcement, the upgrade was activated on the mainnet to improve network reliability and support smoother on-chain payments.
The upgrade is a mainnet hard fork designed to make transaction processing steadier during network stress.
explained in its blog, "More Transactions, More Capacity: Is Constantly Upgrading to Keep Up With Demand," Ithaca introduces automatic failover, transaction safeguards, and improved visibility for node operators to strengthen network reliability.
it is activated the fork on July 29 at block 50,185,000. This makes the fourth mainnet upgrade in under five months, following the Lisovo, Giugliano, and Zurich forks.
Comparing Ithaca vs Zurich releases, Zurich focused on raising network speed, while focuses on reliability during high load.
Automatic failover keeps payments processing during block producer issues
New checks filter out transactions that could strain the network
Node operators get better tools to monitor performance
Builds on the "Open Money Stack" reliability goals has outlined
The Chain has now processed more than 7.8 billion total transactions since launch. The network says this scale supports its shift toward payments and enterprise onchain use, rather than just DeFi activity.
Node operators are advised to promptly to stay compatible with the new rules.
According to Polygon's official X post, the ecosystem has seen multiple payment-focused developments over the past two weeks, including the Ithaca Upgrade, the network surpassing 7.8 billion total transactions, expanded stablecoin settlement, and several new ecosystem integrations.
Alongside the hard fork, Polygon shared several updates from the past two weeks:
Partner | Update |
Polymarket | World Cup prediction market on hit $4.3B, the largest on-chain market so far |
JPYC | Japanese yen stablecoin volume on crossed $265M |
Ramp | Launched stablecoin settlement for over 70,000 merchants |
Mento Labs | Launched an FX protocol on Polygon |
Uquid | Reported a 92% jump in checkout satisfaction using Polygon's order system |
These updates point to growing fiat-to-stablecoin activity and real-world payment use cases building on Chain.
It has not shared official price guidance tied to the upgrade, and this article does not offer any.
What is confirmed is that is a technical reliability, not a change to token supply or issuance. Anyone tracking POL price after they should rely on official channels for verified updates rather than speculation.
The Polygon adds another layer of reliability to a network that is increasingly positioning itself around payments rather than just trading activity.
Combined with the 7.8 billion transaction milestone and new stablecoin partnerships, it points to Polygon Chain leaning further into enterprise and merchant use cases.
As with any Polygon Chain latest news today, further technical details are best confirmed through Polygon's official documentation and blog.
Disclaimer: This article is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.
