Polymarket Readies Platform Overhaul With New Collateral Token

Polymarket plans to introduce a stablecoin as part of an upgrade of its prediction market exchange.

The company’s Polymarket Developers account said in a Monday (April 6) post on X that this upgrade will take place over the next two to three weeks and that it is “the biggest change to date.”

The new stablecoin is a collateral token called Polymarket USD that will be backed 1:1 by USDC, according to the post. Polymarket will shift to this token from the USDC.e it is currently using.

“For most users, this transition is seamless. The frontend handles wrapping automatically with a one-time approval prompt,” the company said in the post. “Power users and API-only traders will need to wrap their USDC or USDC.e into Polymarket USD via the Collateral Onramp contract’s wrap() function.”

Together with the new collateral token, Polymarket’s upgrade will include new contracts and a new order book, according to the post.

“During the upgrade, all existing order books will be cleared,” the company said in the post. “There will be a short maintenance window. We’ll announce the exact date and time at least one week in advance.”

In separate posts by its Polymarket account, the company said that it is making the upgrade in response to users’ feedback and that the infrastructure change will deliver “faster execution, lower gas, & a cleaner foundation going forward.”

Polymarket and stablecoin issuer Circle said in February that they were collaborating to support dollar-denominated settlement infrastructure for Polymarket users. The companies said that Polymarket now uses USDC.e on Polygon for its trades and that it would shift to USDC in the coming months.

In a Feb. 5 press release, the companies said: “Native USDC is issued by Circle’s regulated affiliates and is redeemable 1:1 for US dollars, providing a more capital efficient, scalable and institutionally aligned settlement standard as Polymarket’s platform continues to grow.”

It was reported March 7 that the prediction market was in discussions with investors about raising funds and was targeting a valuation of $20 billion. The company was valued at half that figure in late 2025.

In October, Polymarket secured a $2 billion investment from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the owner and operator of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).