Polygon has successfully deployed its Heimdall v2 upgrade on the Proof-of-Stake mainnet, activating protocol improvement proposals PIP-43, PIP-44, and PIP-62. This marks the network's most technically complex upgrade since its 2020 launch, reducing block finality from approximately 90 seconds to just five seconds. CEO Sandeep Nailwal described the overhaul as "redesigning a multibillion-dollar airplane mid-flight," emphasizing its significance in blockchain history second only to Ethereum's Merge.
The upgrade replaces the legacy Tendermint consensus engine with CometBFT v0.38 and updates the Cosmos SDK, eliminating technical debt while enhancing security and throughput. This positions Polygon as a leading solution for real-time transactions, financial institutions handling tokenized assets (like T-bills and real estate), and payment providers requiring rapid settlement. Immediately following the announcement, POL price surged 10% to $0.234 with trading volume spiking 50% to $221 million.
Core engineering improvements enable future scalability to 5,000+ transactions per second (TPS), with single-block instant finality planned for upcoming months. The upgrade also prepares the network for integration with Agglayer by year-end to unify cross-chain liquidity operations. Polygon Portal and staking apps remain under temporary maintenance during the transition, though the chain is finalizing blocks normally.