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Polygon, the Ethereum Layer 2 network, has rolled out the Rio hard fork on its Proof-of-Stake mainnet — a major upgrade aimed at making the blockchain faster, lighter, and more efficient for global payments and real-world asset transactions. The update redesigns block production and introduces stateless verification to improve scalability.
At the center of Rio is the new Validator-Elected Block Producer (VEBloP) model, where validators select a small group of producers to create blocks for longer durations. Polygon says this innovation reduces chain reorganizations, shortens block times, and ensures fair fee distribution, keeping all validators incentivized.
The upgrade also includes PIP-72, enabling “witness-based” stateless validation so nodes can verify blocks without storing the full blockchain state — cutting hardware costs and improving speed. Part of Polygon’s “GigaGas” roadmap, Rio aims to process up to 5,000 transactions per second, marking a key step toward faster and more reliable crypto infrastructure.
