Polygon, a leading name in the blockchain ecosystem, is preparing for a significant milestone with the Heimdall v2 upgrade, which will take place tomorrow, July 10th. This upgrade is described as the most complex hard fork since the Polygon PoS network launched in 2020 and promises revolutionary improvements in network performance. In anticipation of the upgrade, Polygon's native token, POL, has attracted attention, gaining over 10% in value in the last 24 hours.
Heimdall v2: Transaction finality will accelerate
The primary goals of the Heimdall v2 upgrade include reducing the network's transaction finality time (finality) to approximately five seconds and eliminating technical debt from the 2018-2019 period. Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep Nailwal stated on X (formerly Twitter) that this upgrade is the "most technically complex hard fork" Polygon PoS has seen since its inception in 2020. The reduced finality time means much faster and more secure transaction confirmations for users. This will significantly improve the user experience, particularly in areas like DeFi (Decentralized Finance) and GameFi (Game Finance).
POL token surges
Driven by news of the Heimdall v2 upgrade, the POL token price increased by 10 percent in the last 24 hours, trading at $0.20, reaching a market capitalization of $1.8 billion.
According to Polygon's previous statements, script execution time on the mainnet (excluding any troubleshooting or preparation) is expected to last approximately 30 minutes. This brief outage is seen as a significant step for the long-term health and performance of the network. Nailwal made an important call to validators ahead of the upgrade, stating that most have already upgraded, but that those who haven't should test it early, spread the word, and contact them if they encounter any issues. Validators' preparation for a smooth transition is critical to the success of the upgrade.
Among the innovations that Heimdall v2 will bring are technical details such as the use of a fork for the Cosmos SDK (based on v0.50.13) and CometBFT (based on v0.38.17). These changes aim to modernize the consensus layer underlying Polygon PoS, improving the network's efficiency and scalability. Furthermore, the upgrade is expected to reduce the network's block time from 5-6 seconds to approximately 2 seconds, and the finality time from 90 seconds to 4-6 seconds.
