Polygon: 5 Points to Understand the Burn of 100 Million POL

One hundred million tokens went up in smoke. Polygon destroyed 100 million POL on September 23, which is about 1% of its total supply. An additional 25 million are already waiting for their turn. This is not the first burn for the network: since the adoption of EIP-1559, it has already been destroying a portion of the fees paid in MATIC with each transaction.

Key Points of This Article:

• The destroyed tokens come from the revenue generated by the network's activity, not from the foundation's reserves.
• About 25 million POL are awaiting the next destruction, with no announced schedule.
• Less supply is not enough to support the price if the usage of Polygon does not follow.

What is a Cryptocurrency Burn?

A burn involves sending tokens to a dead address, for which no one holds the private key.

Once sent, they never return to circulation. The total supply decreases accordingly, and each holder has a slightly larger share of the remaining stock.

Where Do the 100 Million POL Burned Come From?

Not from the foundation's treasury. In reality, Polygon's on-chain fee collector took these tokens from a portion of the revenue generated by the network's activity (the "Chain Revenue"). Co-founder Sandeep Nailwal then announced the completion of the operation on September 23 ("BURN COMPLETE"). The transaction can be viewed on Polygonscan.

Relative to a total supply of about 10 billion POL, these 100 million represent nearly 1% of the stock. The burn transaction of 100 million POL, executed on September 23, 2026. Source: Polygonscan

A Recurring POL Burn

The operation on September 23 does not conclude anything. On September 26, Sandeep Nailwal indicated on X that about 25 million POL were already waiting for destruction. However, Polygon has not set any date.

This reserve grows every day, fueled by the same collection mechanism. In other words, the more transactions Polygon processes, the larger the pile of tokens to be burned increases. The network then transitions from a one-time operation to a destruction backed by its usage.

Day 2$POL (formerly MATIC) remains the most undervalued and underrated project

POL community just burnt 100M POL (~1% of supply) permanently, accumulated via Chain Revenue.

~25M POL more ready to burn, getting collected every day

Polymarket launched its perps on Polygon... pic.twitter.com/EK4Ia7YoIf
--- Sandeep | POL Shiller (@sandeepnailwal) September 26, 2026 On September 26, Sandeep Nailwal announces about 25 million POL ready for a new burn. Source: X "POL [...] the most undervalued and underrated. The POL community just burned 100 million POL (about 1% of the supply) [...] thanks to chain revenue. About 25 million POL more, ready for the burn, accumulate every day. [...] Blockstreaming (confirmations in 1 ms) is on the horizon. [...] The OMS [...] one million additional transactions per day.

Does the Burn Increase the Price of POL?

POL has risen about 12% since September 23, reaching the range of $0.11 to $0.115 according to AMBCrypto. Sandeep Nailwal describes the token as "most undervalued and underrated" (the most undervalued and underrated), an opinion from a co-founder that reflects only his view.

A burn reduces supply but does not create any demand. Therefore, if network activity slows down, the fee collection slows down with it, and the next batch to be destroyed as well.

What Polygon Announces Alongside the Burn

• Polygon aims for confirmations in 1 millisecond through "blockstreaming," a technology still under development.
• The upcoming developments of the Open Money Stack (OMS), Polygon's stablecoin payment infrastructure, are expected to add about one million transactions per day.
• Polymarket has launched perpetual contracts on Polygon.

If the next batch of 25 million is burned in turn, Polygon will have removed about 125 million POL from circulation, nearly 1.25% of its total supply. The timing of this burn depends on the volume of fees collected, with no decision from the foundation to wait for. Each additional transaction targeted by the Open Money Stack will therefore increase the next pile of tokens to be destroyed.