What is Polygon’s Madhugiri Hardfork?

Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, Polygon, has long focused on providing efficient and cost-effective transactions for decentralized applications. The Madhugiri Hardfork represents a significant update to its Proof-of-Stake (PoS) chain, designed to enhance performance while maintaining compatibility with existing systems. 

Named after a historic fort in India, this hardfork builds on previous upgrades like Bhilai and Rio, marking another step in Polygon's ongoing efforts to support high-volume use cases such as global payments and real-world asset tokenization. It activated on December 9, 2025, at block height 80,084,800, around 10:00 UTC, without requiring any intervention from users or developers.

Background and Development

The hardfork stems from Polygon's commitment to iterative improvements, addressing bottlenecks in throughput and network reliability. Prior to Madhugiri, the PoS chain handled approximately 1,000 transactions per second (TPS), but growing adoption—seen in integrations with enterprises like Revolut, Mastercard, and BlackRock—demanded more capacity. 

Developers proposed the upgrade through Polygon Improvement Proposals (PIPs), which underwent community governance and testing on the Amoy testnet before mainnet deployment. This process ensured minimal disruption, as the chain continued operating seamlessly during the transition. According to official announcements, the update aligns with Ethereum's Fusaka roadmap, incorporating compatible Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) to bolster security and interoperability.

The timing of the hardfork coincides with Polygon's broader "Gigagas" roadmap, which aims to scale the network to handle billions of daily transactions. By enabling configurable parameters, Madhugiri reduces the need for future hardforks, allowing adjustments through simpler governance votes. 

This approach reflects lessons from earlier upgrades, where fixed block times limited flexibility. Polygon Foundation detailed the countdown and specifics in advance, emphasizing transparency to node operators who needed to update their software versions.

What are the Key Technical Changes?

At its core, the Madhugiri Hardfork introduces several protocol-level modifications through two main PIPs and three EIPs. PIP-75 standardizes consensus time to one second, a reduction that accelerates block production and enables sub-second precision in future configurations. 

This change alone facilitates quicker transaction finality, which is crucial for applications requiring low latency, such as payment processors. Meanwhile, PIP-74 mandates the inclusion of StateSync transactions—used for bridging assets from Ethereum—in block bodies as zero-gas system transactions. This makes StateSync events provable and observable, simplifying client implementations and improving the reliability of indexers and snap-sync processes.

On the security front, the hardfork activates EIP-7823, EIP-7825, and EIP-7883 from Ethereum's Fusaka upgrade. EIP-7823 imposes an 8192-bit upper bound on the base, exponent, and modulus fields for the MODEXP precompile, preventing excessive computational demands. EIP-7825 caps the maximum gas limit per transaction at 32 million, ensuring no single transaction can dominate a block and stabilizing validation times. 

Finally, EIP-7883 reprices the MODEXP operation to better reflect its resource usage, closing potential denial-of-service (DoS) vectors by eliminating underpriced edge cases. These EIPs collectively enhance the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) security on Polygon, aligning it more closely with Ethereum's standards.

Additionally, the upgrade raises the block gas limit from 30 million to 45 million, allowing more transaction data per block. This adjustment, combined with the one-second consensus, directly contributes to the performance gains without compromising decentralization.

What Enhancements Does the Hardfork Bring to Performance and Stability? 

The most notable outcome of Madhugiri is a 33% increase in network throughput, pushing Polygon's capacity to around 1,400 TPS. To put this in perspective, the chain could now theoretically process all 33.6 billion ACH payments handled in the U.S. in 2024 with over 25% of its capacity unused. 

Faster consensus reduces latency, making the network more responsive for real-time applications. Stability improvements come from enhanced node synchronization, where the StateSync inclusion and gas caps minimize risks during high-load periods, reducing the likelihood of chain halts or reorgs.

Node operators benefit from more reliable synchronization, as the upgrade streamlines block validation. In testing, these changes demonstrated consistent uptime, even under simulated stress. For enterprises relying on Polygon for tokenized assets or payments, this means fewer interruptions and better predictability, supporting use cases like those with Stripe or Reliance Jio.

What are the Implications for the Ecosystem?

For everyday users and decentralized app developers, Madhugiri requires no changes—wallets, bridges, and smart contracts remain fully functional. However, the upgrade unlocks new possibilities, such as deploying more complex dApps that demand higher transaction volumes. 

Developers can now plan for scalable architectures, knowing that future throughput boosts, potentially up to 5,000 TPS via the upcoming Rio upgrade, can be implemented without major overhauls. This flexibility positions Polygon as a robust alternative to other layer-2 solutions, particularly for high-throughput needs.

The hardfork also reinforces Polygon's role in the broader blockchain landscape. By supporting Ethereum's Fusaka EIPs, it ensures long-term compatibility, allowing seamless asset transfers and shared security models.

Final Thoughts…

Madhugiri sets the stage for Polygon's evolution toward an "institutional-grade" network capable of global-scale finance. Future upgrades can now adjust block times via governance, paving the way for even greater efficiency without the coordination challenges of hardforks. 

As Polygon continues its Gigagas initiative, stakeholders can anticipate sustained growth in capacity, potentially handling enterprise demands at unprecedented levels. This hardfork not only delivers immediate benefits but also demonstrates Polygon's methodical approach to scaling, ensuring the chain remains a key player in decentralized infrastructure.

Sources: 

• _{Polygon Technology: Polygon Speeds Up by 33% with Madhugiri Hardfork.}

• _{Polygon Technology: Polygon's Gigagas Roadmap to 100k TPS.}

• _{Polygon Forum: PIP-75 Change Consensus Time to 1 Second.}

• _{Ethereum Improvement Proposals: EIP-7823 Details.}

• _{Ethereum Improvement Proposals: EIP-7825 Details.}

• _{Ethereum Improvement Proposals: EIP-7883 Details.}

• _{Nacha.org: 2024 ACH Network Growth and Milestone.}