Polygon's Aggregation Layer Integration with Astar zkEVM

**Stablecoin payment cards are gaining serious traction.** From June to August, these cards processed **$381M in combined Mastercard and Visa volume** on Polygon. **Major partnership announced:** Polygon Labs is collaborating with Flutterwave, which handles **$40B in payment volume**, to address: - High transaction fees - Slow settlement times - Limited financial access in emerging markets This follows recent momentum in crypto payments: - DeCard enabled stablecoin payments to **150M+ merchants worldwide** - Polygon leads all blockchains in **stablecoin lending with $192B+ volume** - Payment apps moved **$1.82B on Polygon** across 50 platforms in Q3 The collaboration aims to make crypto payments as simple as tapping a credit card, potentially setting new global standards for digital asset transfers.

**Payment platforms see massive growth** as onchain transaction volume nearly doubled last quarter. - **$1.82 billion USD** moved across 50+ different payment platforms - Transfer volume surge reflects growing adoption of blockchain-based payments - Multiple platforms contributing to the ecosystem's expansion The significant increase demonstrates **mainstream acceptance** of onchain payment solutions. Users are increasingly comfortable moving large volumes through decentralized payment infrastructure. This growth spans across dozens of platforms, showing **distributed adoption** rather than concentration in a few major players. The diversified ecosystem suggests sustainable, long-term growth in the space.

Polygon-incubated **ZiskVM** has reached a significant milestone by proving Ethereum blocks in **real time**. This breakthrough represents a major advancement in zero-knowledge proof technology and Ethereum scaling solutions. The achievement demonstrates the practical viability of ZK-powered infrastructure for blockchain verification. - Real-time block proving eliminates traditional verification delays - Marks a crucial step forward for Ethereum scalability - Showcases Polygon's continued innovation in ZK technology The milestone builds on Polygon's broader ZK ecosystem development, including previous work on Miden and other privacy-focused scaling solutions.

**x402 protocol is expanding its reach** beyond AI agents with a new experiment called Autopay, allowing broader access to gated x402 APIs. The protocol enables **instant, autonomous payments** using stablecoins over HTTP, eliminating traditional payment intermediaries and their associated delays and fees. **Key benefits include:** - Settlements in seconds - Support for micropayments - Global functionality without currency conversion - No chargebacks or middlemen **BNB Chain builders are actively integrating x402:** - @unibase_ai: Verifiable, gasless payments for AI agents - @pieverse_io: EIP-3009 gasless wrapped stablecoin payments - @AEON_Community: Secure transactions with onchain settlement - @termix_ai: Google Agent Payments Protocol integration Autopay represents the next step in making x402's **agent-to-agent payment model** more accessible to developers and services beyond the AI ecosystem.

Japan has achieved a major milestone with the launch of the **world's first yen-pegged stablecoin** on Polygon. The stablecoin, JPYC, is **fully backed and pegged 1:1** to the Japanese yen, marking Japan's entry into government-approved digital currency. Key benefits: - Low transaction fees on Polygon - Real-time settlement capabilities - Global accessibility This launch represents a shift from experimental digital payments to **mainstream government adoption** of stablecoins. The move demonstrates how stablecoins are becoming integrated into core financial systems. Polygon's infrastructure provides the necessary foundation with its efficient scaling solution for digital money transfers.