Polygon (MATIC) Surges 11% on Major ZK Upgrade Rollout

Polygon (MATIC) jumped more than 11% on Thursday after the network officially launched its long-anticipated zero-knowledge (ZK) upgrade, a move that significantly enhances transaction speed, privacy, and scalability across the blockchain. The upgrade, dubbed Polygon ZK v2, went live without disruption and is now being integrated into key dApps and Layer-2 protocols across the Ethereum ecosystem.

The rollout marks a major milestone for Polygon’s evolution as a leading Ethereum scaling solution. With ZK-rollups now at the core of the network’s architecture, Polygon can handle thousands of transactions per second with significantly reduced gas costs and faster finality. The upgrade also brings native support for recursive proofs, enabling even greater throughput and improved interoperability with other chains.

Market response was immediate. MATIC surged to $0.96, its highest level in over four months, as traders and investors welcomed the successful deployment. Trading volume spiked across major exchanges including Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, while MATIC futures open interest jumped by 18%, suggesting rising institutional interest and speculative momentum. On-chain metrics also reflected heightened activity, with active addresses and daily transactions both climbing sharply in the past 48 hours.

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal called the upgrade “a foundational moment for Layer-2 scaling,” emphasizing that the ZK protocol will enable enterprises and developers to build more robust decentralized applications without sacrificing security or efficiency. He also hinted that major partnerships are in the pipeline, potentially involving gaming and tokenized real-world asset (RWA) platforms.

Analysts were quick to react to the upgrade’s success. Several crypto funds, including Delphi Digital and Spartan Group, noted that Polygon now sits at the forefront of the ZK-rollup race, ahead of competitors like StarkNet and zkSync. Some industry insiders also believe that the upgrade positions Polygon to become a key infrastructure layer for Ethereum’s modular future.

Meanwhile, the broader crypto market remained mostly stable, with Bitcoin pulling back slightly and Ethereum holding near $3,470. MATIC’s strong performance stood out among large-cap altcoins, most of which saw either flat or minor movement on the day. The launch has reignited bullish sentiment in the Polygon community, with many targeting a potential push above the $1 mark in the near term.

With the ZK upgrade now live, all eyes will be on developer adoption, dApp performance, and network throughput in the coming weeks. If Polygon can demonstrate real-world improvements in speed, security, and cost, MATIC may be poised for a much larger breakout as confidence builds in its technological roadmap.