A New Pattern in Polygon Ecosystem Activity and POL Demand Allocation
TL;DR
The Polygon ecosystem exhibits strong activity, with an average daily transaction volume of 5.66 million and 852,000 active addresses. Driven by the payment narrative, stablecoin monthly transaction volume reached 153 million. POL demand is showing multiple signals: the staking ratio remains stable at 45% (4.6 billion POL), there has been a recent large inflow into Coinbase (19.5 million POL in a single day), and the hard fork upgrade is imminent on December 9th. The distribution mechanism maintains a 2% annual inflation rate (1% for validators + 1% for the community treasury), and the circulating supply has reached 10.43 billion POL (total supply 12.2 billion). The community is discussing a proposal to remove inflation, but it has not yet been implemented.
Ecological activity analysis
Key performance indicators
| index | numerical values | Trend of change |
|---|---|---|
| DeFi TVL | $1.226 billion | Recent -5% |
| Stablecoin market capitalization | $2.777 billion | 7th-9.61% |
| 24-hour active address | 852,300 | Continued high level |
| 24-hour trading volume | 5.66 million transactions | Monthly +2% |
| 24-hour on-chain fees | $15,650 | Low cost advantage |
Technology upgrades and infrastructure
The Rio hard fork (activated on October 8, 2025) achieves key performance breakthroughs:
- Throughput : up to 5,000 TPS
- Finality : Near-immediate confirmation, no risk of restructuring.
- Node optimization : Supports lightweight node deployment
Upcoming upgrade : A new hard fork is planned to be executed at block 80,084,800 on December 9th. Exchanges such as Binance will suspend deposits and withdrawals to support the upgrade, but trading functions will not be affected.
Strategic partnership (last 30 days)
| Partners | Announcement Date | Integrated content | Scale of impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revolut | November 18 | USDC/USDT remittance, POL trading/staking | Over $690 million in transactions have been processed. |
| Calastone | November 12 | Tokenized Fund Distribution | Institutional Funding Channels |
| BDACS | Recently | KRW1 stablecoin deployment | Korean Won payment scenarios |
| Mastercard | Recently | Username (simplified) wallet address | Payment experience optimization |
Payment narrative dominates : Stablecoins saw 153 million transactions on Polygon last month, and Revolut integration enabled instant USDC/USDT transfers, demonstrating the growing demand for real-world applications.
Ecological Project Updates
- Polymarket : US Markets Relaunched (Announced December 3), Strengthening Polygon's Position as Prediction Market Infrastructure
- Miden Privacy Chain : Polygon Labs' edge blockchain receives institutional support; device-side execution and ZK privacy technology are key features.
- AggLayer projects , such as Billions Network's commitment to airdrop tokens to POL stakers, enhance ecosystem participation incentives.
POL Demand Index Analysis
Market performance and liquidity
- Price : Approximately $0.13 USD
- Market capitalization : Approximately $1.25 billion
- 24-hour trading volume : approximately $70 million
- Exchange coverage : 8 major exchanges (Binance, Coinbase, OKX, etc.), all 28 trading pairs are active.
- New Listing : Binance added the POL/IDR trading pair on November 29th.
On-chain demand signals
Pledge activities :
- Total pledged amount : approximately 4.6 billion POL, representing 45% of the circulating supply.
- Pledge yield : 4-5% APR (Annualized Rate of Return)
- Locked value : Approximately $550 million USD equivalent
- Stability : The pledge ratio remains stable within the range of 44-46%.
Large transaction activity :
- December 3: 19.5 million POL (~$2.49 million) transferred to Coinbase
- December 4: 16.6 million POL (~$2.07 million) transferred to Coinbase
- Analysis : The continued inflow of institutional wallets into exchanges may indicate preparations for market making, staking products, or strategic positioning.
Network usage requirements :
- An average of 15 million transactions per day use POL to pay fuel costs (average 0.001 POL/transaction).
- Approximately 500,000 POLs have been destroyed through the EIP-1559 mechanism in the past 30 days.
- The lower fees ($15,650 daily fees compared to 5.66 million transactions) make high-frequency settlement scenarios more attractive.
Holder distribution
- Top holders : The top 10 control approximately 1.1% of the circulating supply, and the top 100 control approximately 5%.
- Concentration : Gini coefficient approximately 0.85, primarily concentrated in exchanges and validators.
- Recent trends : Retail holding addresses increased by approximately +1%, with a relatively stable distribution.
New Changes in Distribution Mechanisms
Token economics architecture
| Assignment Category | Quantity (hundred million POL) | percentage | state |
|---|---|---|---|
| MATIC migration | 100 | 82.03% | Fully unlocked |
| Validator incentives | 10.95 | 8.98% | Continue to release |
| Community Vault | 10.95 | 8.98% | Continue to release |
| Total supply | 121.9 | 100% | Fixed upper limit |
Progress of MATIC to POL migration
- Completion rate : 99% of MATIC has completed 1:1 conversion.
- Migration methods : Manual redemption via Polygon Portal on Ethereum; automatic completion on Polygon PoS (wallet display needs to be updated).
- Current status : MATIC's actual circulating supply is 0, and the price is zero.
Continuous emission mechanism
Annual inflation : 2% of supply emissions fixed, allocated as follows:
- Validator incentive : 1% (approximately 100 million POL/year) as a reward for the basic protocol.
- Community Treasury : 1% (approximately 100 million POL/year) allocated to ecological development funding.
Recent unlocked data (November 5, 2025 - December 5, 2025):
- Total unlocks: 17,672,500 POL
- Daily unlocks: 570,000 POL
- Circulating supply increased to: 10.427 billion POL
Emissions decline history :
- 2023-2024: 2% annual emissions
- 2024-2025: Decreasing by 1.5%
- After June 2025: Reduced to the current 1% standard (based on PIP-26 proposal)
Community governance fund operation
- Management body : Overseen by the Independent Community Treasury Board (CTB)
- Funding mechanism : Apply through Polygon Funding Proposals (PFPs)
- Season 2 Funding : 35 million POL allocated to ecological projects
- Transparency requirement : Funded projects are required to submit an impact report.
Proposals to be discussed and potential changes
Forum Proposal for October 2025 (Draft Under Discussion):
- Key recommendation : Eliminate the 2% inflation target and adopt a 0% or gradually decreasing issuance rate.
- Supporting measures : Introduce a 20% vault buyback and destruction mechanism.
- Community feedback : Disagreements exist regarding the impact on validator incentives.
- Implementation status : Not approved or implemented; emissions will continue as originally planned.
Community sentiment and narrative analysis
Dominant Narrative
Leadership in payment infrastructure :
- Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal expressed optimism about the accelerated adoption rate, believing that we are currently in a similar historical growth phase.
- Stablecoin activity was described as "nearing a tipping point," with monthly trading volume hitting an all-time high.
- Revolut and other traditional financial institutions integrate and enhance their understanding of payment scenarios.
Privacy and ZK Technology Innovation :
- Miden project financing and ZK privacy implementation on device side receive institutional recognition.
- Fast Ethereum block proof capability demonstrates technological leadership
- Community member @0x002timmy described Polygon's technology stack (including Miden) as a "comprehensive solution".
KOL and Influencer Perspectives
| Source of viewpoints | Core Argument | Mood Tendency |
|---|---|---|
| Sandeep Nailwal | Usage is accelerating, similar to historical growth, construction continues. | Optimistic and positive |
| @covertheflames | TVL shows remarkable resilience during market correction | Recognizing stability |
| @0x002timmy | Complete technology stack, outstanding privacy capabilities | Be optimistic about technology |
Community Controversies and Concerns
Token Symbol Controversy :
- The co-founders proposed restoring the POL symbol to MATIC to improve familiarity.
- This sparked a debate within the community about brand awareness and migration strategies.
Regional cognitive challenges :
- Skepticism exists regarding Indian-led projects.
- The community actively defended projects like Polygon and countered FUD.
Overall emotional tone :
- The focus is on being proactive, emphasizing undervalued potential.
- They expressed excitement about the expansion of the payment ecosystem and advancements in privacy technologies.
- TVL's resilience during price pullbacks has garnered recognition.
in conclusion
The Polygon ecosystem showed strong activity signals at the end of 2025: the 5000 TPS performance boost brought by the Rio hard fork, the dominant payment narrative driven by integrations with mainstream institutions such as Revolut, and the technological breakthroughs of the Miden privacy chain, together forming the three pillars of ecosystem growth. Fundamental data of 5.66 million daily transactions and 852,000 active addresses supported actual usage demand.
POL demand is supported by multiple factors: a 45% staking ratio locking up 4.6 billion tokens, recent institutional activity with nearly 20 million tokens flowing into Coinbase in a single day, and continued fuel consumption demand due to low fees, all forming a structural support for supply and demand balance. The price of $0.13 reflects a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, lower than mainstream L2 competitors but matching the actual TVL ($1.226 billion).
The distribution mechanism remains transparent and predictable: With 99% of the MATIC migration complete, a fixed annual inflation of 2% (1% for validators + 1% for the community treasury) provides a continuous incentive, and the recent daily unlocking of 570,000 tokens is in line with the established plan. While there have been proposals within the community to remove inflation, no consensus has been reached or implemented, and the current mechanism will remain stable in the short term. The upcoming hard fork upgrade on December 9th represents a continuation of technological evolution.
The strategic positioning of payment infrastructure, the actual demand for stablecoins with a monthly trading volume of 153 million, and the continuous expansion of institutional partners have established a differentiated development path for the Polygon ecosystem in the highly competitive L2 landscape.