Polygon Prepares 100 Million POL Burn as Deflationary Plan Moves Toward Mainnet
Polygon is preparing to permanently remove 100 million POL tokens from circulation as the network moves forward with a new mechanism designed to connect transaction fees with recurring token burns. Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep Nailwal said the contracts are already deployed on testnet and are awaiting final Security Council signatures.
The planned burn would draw from Polygon’s fee collector, which currently holds approximately 121 million POL, according to Nailwal. If the mechanism is activated as proposed, 100 million POL would be permanently destroyed, leaving roughly 21 million POL in the collector before additional fee revenue accumulates.
The announcement represents a significant change in how Polygon plans to handle accumulated fee revenue. Rather than allowing the entire balance to remain in the collector, the proposed mechanism would turn a large portion of those tokens into a permanent reduction in supply.
Polygon Prepares First 100 Million POL Burn
The initial burn would remove approximately 100 million POL in a single event once the contract reaches mainnet and the required approvals are completed. The amount represents about 1% of POL’s original 10 billion token supply, although POL does not have a fixed maximum supply.
The contracts are currently undergoing the final approval process rather than being available for the public to execute. Nailwal said the remaining requirement is the final set of Security Council signatures, meaning the proposed burn should not be treated as completed.
One of the notable aspects of the plan is that the burn would not necessarily require Polygon’s foundation team to execute the transaction itself. Once the contracts are live, community members would be able to trigger the initial burn through the permissionless mechanism described by Nailwal.
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The same mechanism is intended to support future burns. After the initial 100 million POL removal, additional POL accumulated from eligible fee revenue could be burned on a quarterly basis, creating a recurring process rather than relying exclusively on one large supply reduction.
This approach ties the amount of POL that can eventually be removed from circulation to activity on the network. More transactions and associated fees can increase the balance available to the burn mechanism, although the actual effect on POL’s overall supply will depend on fee generation and the network’s continuing token issuance.
Polygon’s token economics also include ongoing emissions, meaning burns do not automatically create a permanent decline in total supply. The network’s long-term supply trajectory will depend on the relationship between newly issued POL and tokens removed through fee-based burns.
Fee Revenue Becomes Part of POL Tokenomics
Nailwal has also linked the burn initiative to Polygon’s recent revenue performance. He reported approximately $24.5 million in Polygon revenue during 2026 and compared the figure with numbers he cited for Arbitrum and NEAR. Those comparisons have not been independently verified in the same manner as official network financial statements, so they are best treated as Nailwal’s reported figures.
The broader strategy is to make POL’s supply dynamics increasingly dependent on actual network activity. If Polygon continues generating fees at a level sufficient to support regular burns, the mechanism could remove additional tokens over time rather than relying solely on the initial 100 million POL event.
However, the burn itself does not guarantee an increase in POL’s market value. Token supply is only one factor affecting price, alongside demand, network usage, competition, broader crypto-market conditions and the amount of POL entering or leaving circulation through other mechanisms.
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Polygon has been working on several changes to increase the economic utility of POL. Earlier this year, Polygon introduced sPOL, its native liquid-staking token, as part of efforts to give POL stakers greater access to staking and priority-fee rewards.
The planned burn therefore fits into a broader effort to reshape POL’s token economics around network activity, staking and fee generation. The immediate milestone remains the same: final Security Council approval and deployment of the burn contracts on mainnet.
Until that happens, the 100 million POL remains in the fee collector and has not been permanently removed. If the mechanism goes live as described, Polygon will then have a public, recurring framework for converting accumulated fee revenue into permanent POL supply reductions.
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