The Polygon Foundation has confirmed that the Giugliano hardfork will activate on the Polygon mainnet at block 85,268,500, scheduled for approximately 2:00 p.m. UTC on April 8. The upgrade introduces protocol-level changes that target faster transaction finality and more transparent fee data, while also requiring infrastructure operators to update their software ahead of the activation point.

In a statement shared on X, the team said:

"This upgrade enables faster finality by letting producers announce blocks earlier, adds fee parameters directly in block headers, and introduces new RPC support for fee data."

Earlier block announcements aim to cut finality time

Giugliano modifies how block producers communicate new blocks to the network. The change allows earlier announcements, which reduces the time required for transactions to reach irreversible status. This adjustment targets one of the most visible performance metrics for users: how long it takes for a transaction to be considered final.

Testing on the Amoy testnet provided an early signal of impact. Data from that environment showed a roughly two-second improvement in finality time. While that reduction may appear modest, it plays a critical role in high-frequency environments such as payments and decentralized finance, where confirmation speed directly affects usability and risk.

The upgrade also reintroduces a previously reverted feature. According to Polygon Improvement Proposal PIP-84, the hardfork includes PIP-66, and it allows early block announcements. The feature was part of an earlier upgrade but was removed after behavioral issues surfaced. The revised implementation addresses those issues before returning to mainnet.

Fee transparency moves to protocol level

Giugliano also changes how fee data becomes available across the network. The upgrade embeds EIP-1559-style fee parameters directly into block headers, so it allows applications to access gas pricing data without relying on external estimation tools.

New Remote Procedure Call endpoints accompany this shift. These endpoints provide direct access to fee information, and that simplifies integration for wallets and decentralized applications. Developers gain more predictable access to pricing data, which can improve transaction estimation and user experience.

This change reflects a broader move toward protocol-native tooling. Instead of relying on off-chain estimators, applications can now query the network itself for consistent fee metrics.

Node operators face mandatory upgrade requirement

The Giugliano hardfork introduces a clear operational requirement for node operators. All operators must upgrade to Bor v2.7.0 or Erigon v3.5.0 before the activation block. Failure to update may result in nodes falling out of sync with the network after the fork.

Regular users and most developers do not need to take action. The changes operate at the infrastructure level, and this means end users will experience improvements without direct intervention.

Upgrade follows a period of network instability

The timing of the Giugliano release follows a difficult period for Polygon’s reliability. In September 2025, a consensus bug caused finality delays of up to 15 minutes. The team deployed an emergency hardfork to restore normal operations.

Another incident occurred two months earlier. A validator exit triggered a bug in the Heimdall consensus layer, causing a halted finality for roughly one hour. These events placed pressure on the network’s stability and prompted a series of upgrades focused on resilience.

Subsequent releases aimed to address these weaknesses. The Madhugiri upgrade in December 2025 increased throughput to around 1,400 transactions per second. The Lisovo hardfork in March 2026 improved smart contract reliability and introduced subsidized gas mechanisms for AI-related transactions.

Giugliano continues this sequence with a focus on finality and fee infrastructure, as they represent two core aspects of network performance.

Part of the Gigagas roadmap

The hardfork fits within Polygon’s broader Gigagas roadmap, announced in June 2025. The initiative targets scaling the network to 100,000 transactions per second to support global payments and real-world asset settlement.

Earlier milestones have already shifted performance benchmarks. The Bhilai upgrade in July 2025 reduced finality from more than 60 seconds to around five seconds while increasing throughput above 1,000 TPS. Current network throughput stands at approximately 2,600 TPS, with internal development networks exceeding 5,000 TPS.

Giugliano builds on this trajectory by refining transaction confirmation speed and improving fee data access. The next phase will depend on how these changes perform under real network conditions after activation.

Market reaction remains cautious

Despite the technical improvements, the market response has remained muted. Polygon’s native token POL declined by nearly 2.4%, trading around $0.09097 at the time of reporting, according to data from Coingecko.

Price movements often lag behind infrastructure upgrades, especially when changes target long-term performance rather than immediate user-facing features. The coming weeks will provide clearer signals on whether faster finality and improved fee transparency translate into increased usage and demand.

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