Polygon price bounces amid major payments upgrade

• Polygon price eyes gains as the community cheers the Rio upgrade going live on the mainnet.
• Rio introduces stateless validation, reducing node storage needs and enabling broader participation.
• The upgrade also mitigates the risk of chain reorganizations with near-instant finality.

Polygon price rose as the Rio hardfork, a major upgrade aimed at redefining global payments on decentralized networks, went live on the mainnet.

 The Polygon Labs team announced the milestone on October 8, 2025, noting in a blog post that the upgrade is the network’s biggest ever.

Speed, near-instant finality, and lightweight nodes are key features that will go live amid the Rio upgrade, which could see Polygon play a major role in web3 payments and real-world asset markets. 

According to the team, Rio empowers developers, enterprises, and users to build and deploy payment solutions with confidence.

Polygon co-founder and CEO of Polygon Foundation Sandeep Nailwal commented via X:

BIG Shipping Announcement!

This is a pivotal moment in the history of Polygon.

The Rio upgrade, a payments-focused network rehaul, is live on Polygon PoS mainnet.

– Near instant finality
– Eliminates Reorgs from Polygon POS, single biggest devX and UX complaint is now… pic.twitter.com/mTXtkPjKoe

— Sandeep | CEO, Polygon Foundation (※,※) (@sandeepnailwal) October 8, 2025

Rio upgrade: what else to know

At the centre of the Rio upgrade lies a suite of meticulously engineered improvements encapsulated in three Polygon Improvement Proposals.

PIP-64 introduces the Validator-Elected Block Producer (VEBloP) model. 

This is a novel architecture where validators collaboratively select a limited pool of block producers to handle extended production cycles.

The aim is to eliminate the inefficiencies of simultaneous block creation by multiple validators, which is key to network throughput.

Complementing VEBloP, PIP-65 refines the economic incentives by redistributing transaction fees and maximum extractable value.

This ensures that even participants operating modest hardware can reap proportional rewards, fostering a more inclusive validator ecosystem. 

On the other hand,PIP-72 pioneers witness-based stateless validation, a groundbreaking feature that allows nodes to verify blocks using compact cryptographic proofs rather than maintaining exhaustive state data. 

These enhancements deliver near-instant finality, where blocks are treated as immutable upon validation.

It’s an update that mitigates the risks of transaction reversals or reorganisations that can significantly impact a network. 

With changes to underlying block production and validation, it’s now easier and lower-cost than ever to participate in the network.

Rio enables 5k TPS on the network and makes nodes lightweight, slashing the cost of compute.

By removing the risk of reorgs, Rio provides a step function improvement in the reliability of finality. 

What does this mean for POL?

POL, formerly MATIC, is Polygon’s native token.

Its value has recently fluctuated largely lower since hitting highs of $0.71 in December 2024.

However, bulls have ticked up by about 5% in the past week and POL traded 3% up in the past 24 hours with its price near $0.24.

In terms of what the Rio upgrade means for the ecosystem, the potential impact extends beyond technical prowess.

Polygon now encompasses a network that is for both builders and end-users.

Developers now face significantly reduced barriers to entry, with lightweight nodes requiring minimal compute and storage resources.

That means better integration experiences for agentic payment systems among others.

Beyond NFTs, there’s a rapidly expanding market across real-world assets and cross-border payments.

Rio not only elevates Polygon but also accelerates the mainstream adoption of web3 payments.

Polygon token’s price could ride tailwinds around these developments as bulls target gains.