Polygon Upgrade Goes Live Following Low Governance Vote Turnout

A DAO analyst tells Blockworks lack of voter participation should not be perceived as a necessarily bad side of decentralized governance

article-image

Source: Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

Polygon’s Ethereum-compatible proof-of-stake sidechain (Polygon PoS) underwent a hard fork on Jan. 17 — an upgrade intended to help address gas spikes and chain reorganization issues that have affected the network.

According to Blockworks Research, the hard fork will result in lower transaction fees and refine the security of blocks. It went live at approximately 4:00 a.m. ET at block height 38,189,056.

Polygon first officially announced the hard fork in a Jan. 12 blog, which also mentions longer-term technical upgrades for the network. The fork was proposed based on a forum discussion and community feedback.

In its blog, Polygon laid out reasons why the upgrade was required. For one, its network faced “gas spikes,” an undesired exponential jump in price encountered during surges in demand on its network following Ethereum Improvement Proposal-1559. The fork is expected to help smoothen fluctuations in gas prices. 

Coming to on-chain reorganization, Polygon said that it wanted to reduce what’s known as “sprint length” — the number of blocks produced by a validator — to reduce the time taken for validation. This results in “fewer reorgs overall,” which impacts the finality of transactions, Polygon said.

Blockworks Research noted the low level of participation in this governance proposal, as the latest fork was passed by just 15 votes, with each Polygon validator team being able to cast one vote.

“While validators still need to implement the new software for the new chain to be canonical, Polygon governance discussions seem to leave a lot to be desired,” the research team said. 

Governance matters should expect to see fewer participants during bear markets, according to Hendo Verbeek, head of risk at Spool Finance, a DeFi liquidity aggregator organized as a DAO.

“By no means should we label this lack of participation as a bad thing because the actors that do remain are generally very high-level and extremely well incentivized to ensure the best outcome for all parties involved,” Verbeek told Blockworks.

The price of native token MATIC, which is up nearly 20% — in US dollar terms — since the hard fork was announced, has been in line with the recent market rally, and is mostly flat versus ether.

MATIC has significantly underperformed ETH since the November FTX bankruptcy on Nov. 11, 2022, down around 24%.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research

article-image

Luke Barwikowski took to Twitter to raise awareness about the threats against him and his family

article-image

David Chaum’s ecash in the 90s offers insights into balancing priorities in DeFi today

article-image

The forthcoming stablecoin was praised by BitGo’s Mike Bleshe as an advancement in “institutional-ready digital assets”

article-image

Chronicle’s Niklas Kunkel talked to Blockworks about the raise and why he’s prioritizing research

article-image

Sponsored

DESK isn’t just another trading platform — it’s redefining what’s possible in on-chain trading

article-image

The real strength of tailored AMMs might lie in their capacity to cultivate deeper loyalty and engagement within niche communities