Prediction Markets Heat Up as Election and Crypto Drama Unfold

**Major developments on Polygon last week:** - **Frax, Curve, and DFB** launched onchain FX markets enabling currency swaps at lower costs than traditional cross-border rails. Six global stablecoin pairs now live with frxUSD as base pairing. - **Giugliano Upgrade** deployed to mainnet, delivering faster finality and improved P2P throughput under network load. - **Zero-gas expansion**: TokenPocket extended fee-free transfers to USDT and DAI on Polygon. - **Polymarket** introduced pUSD stablecoin on Polygon. - **P2P stablecoin volume** reached $7.52B in March. - **Builder support**: Hadron and Ignyte launched $100k funding initiative. The FX markets provide transparent pricing, instant settlement, and liquidity rewards for non-USD stablecoin providers—positioning Polygon as infrastructure for global currency movement onchain.

Polymarket announced the launch of **pUSD**, its native stablecoin, on the Polygon network. The integration marks an expansion of Polymarket's infrastructure beyond its current deployment. pUSD will enable users to participate in prediction markets directly on Polygon's layer-2 scaling solution. **Key implications:** - Lower transaction costs for users through Polygon's efficient infrastructure - Faster settlement times compared to Ethereum mainnet - Broader accessibility for prediction market participants The move aligns with Polygon's focus on zero-knowledge technology and Ethereum scaling solutions. No specific launch date was provided in the announcement. [Source](https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2042743133927280693?s=20)

Polygon has significantly accelerated its transaction speeds through a new integration with MoonPay, delivering an **850% improvement** in fast buy processing times. This enhancement builds on Polygon's existing reputation for: - Low transaction fees - Fast payment processing - Efficient blockchain operations The MoonPay partnership specifically targets the on-ramp experience, making it substantially quicker for users to purchase and transact on the Polygon network. This represents a major upgrade to the network's already competitive speed and cost advantages in the Ethereum scaling ecosystem.

The Giugliano upgrade has been running on Polygon Chain mainnet for 24 hours, delivering measurable improvements for payment applications. **Key Performance Gains:** - Transaction finality improved by ~1.5 seconds - Fee estimation accuracy enhanced for wallets and payment integrations - Prefetch mechanism unlocked 23x more headroom, enabling scaling toward 7,000+ TPS This marks the third mainnet upgrade in four months, each iteration improving payment infrastructure capabilities. The upgrade also brought 4x higher P2P throughput under load and better onchain gas fee transparency. Polygon positions itself as a production-ready settlement layer for onchain payments, with consistent technical improvements focused on speed and reliability. [Read more details](https://polygon.technology/blog/giugliano-upgrade-faster-confirmations-predictable-fees-and-a-more-resilient-network-for-polygon-chain)

Curve Finance has launched foreign exchange pools on Polygon, enabling trading between frxUSD and multiple fiat-pegged stablecoins. **Live Trading Pairs:** - BRZ (Brazilian real) - KRWQ (Korean won) - IDRX (Indonesian rupiah) - tGBP (British pound) - AUDF (Australian dollar) - USDT (US dollar) All pairs use frxUSD (Frax USD) as the base currency. Additional currency pairs are currently in development. Incentives and gauges are now active for liquidity providers. Users can access the pools on [Curve's Polygon platform](https://www.curve.finance/dex/polygon/pools?search=frxusd&sort=-tvl).