Polygon Considers Moving 70 Million POL Without Wallet Holder Signatures

A recently published proposal on Polygon outlines a network-level recovery plan that would transfer approximately 70 million POL from five specific addresses linked to security incidents affecting Polymarket and Binance. Under the system design, the upgraded software would alter balances directly through network rules rather than requiring authorization signatures from the original wallet holders.

The initiative targets four addresses associated with Polymarket and one linked to Binance, though exact figures would depend on account balances at the time of activation rather than dated reference tables. Before transactions execute in the activation block, the software would read each listed address balance, reset it to zero, and credit the identical amount to a designated recovery address. Total token supply would remain unchanged, and historical chain data would stay intact.

Governance approval, validator adoption, and specific address lists would combine to form the recovery authority. Affected companies must designate recipients, while Polygon Labs would confirm proofs of recipient control, which could involve signed messages or small test transfers. The proposal explicitly warns that misidentifying an attacker-controlled address could result in the movement of legitimate funds.

Understanding Polygon Polymarket Recovery

The full-balance rule introduces complexities regarding later deposits, requiring balance checks prior to activation to disclose included coins. For exchanges and custodians, this creates discrepancies between upgraded node balances and records derived solely from standard transactions. Reconciliation processes and upcoming test rehearsals on Amoy intend to verify that supply remains constant and unrelated accounts stay unaffected.

Customer reimbursements remain separate from this technical measure. Polymarket previously reported that the majority of impacted trading wallets had received full refunds, whereas the proposed fork focuses strictly on returning assets to company-designated recovery addresses.

A proposed Polygon fork would transfer 70 million POL using network rules rather than wallet signatures.

Why it matters

The proposed upgrade shifts the mechanism for handling stolen digital assets by placing recovery authority into protocol rules, validator software, and governance decisions rather than requiring traditional transaction signatures. This technical change directly impacts exchanges, custodians, and block explorers that must reconcile balance differences and maintain accurate accounting tools following activation.