Polymarket to Launch Stablecoin, Order Book Overhaul in Prediction Market Upgrade

Prominent on-chain prediction market platform Polymarket is deploying a major upgrade to its technical foundations, including implementing a new order book and its own stablecoin for use as collateral on the platform. 

The firm is calling the upgrade its “biggest change to date.” 

“We’ve heard your feedback, and we’re excited to announce Polymarket is getting a full exchange upgrade,” the prediction market posted on X. “Over the next few weeks, we’re rolling out a rebuilt trading engine, upgraded smart contracts, and a new collateral token, Polymarket USD.”

The changes are expected to be implemented over the coming weeks, with a brief period requiring the cancellation of all open orders on the platform. However, the firm says it will give traders at least “a few days” of advanced notice prior to cancelling unfilled orders. 

“Our biggest infrastructure change since launch… faster execution, lower gas, and a cleaner foundation going forward,” it said. 

While the firm doesn’t expect a difficult transition for most prediction market users, builders, API-only traders, and power users may be more affected by the changes. For example, users running bots to trade on the markets will need to update their software development kits to enable trading with the new order book structure. 

Additionally, more advanced users may need to use a smart contract wrap function to move their USDC or USDC.e into the firm’s new stablecoin and collateral token—Polymarket USD. 

The firm has historically utilized USDC.e on Ethereum scaling network, Polygon, which represents a bridged version of Circle’s dollar-backed stablecoin USDC. But the move to its own token, which will be backed 1:1 with Circle’s USDC, created speculation among users about improved yields for those holding funds on the platform and the potential for a sizable revenue bump for the firm. 

Meanwhile, other users speculated that the launch of its own stablecoin could also spur the rollout of the platform’s planned native token, POLY. Yet, while the token was confirmed to be in the works, predictors on Myriad—a prediction market from Decrypt‘s parent company, Dastan—do not believe it will launch by May, putting odds of the token launch before that time just 11%.