Polygon Eyes Hard Fork to Recover 70.49 Million POL Stolen in Polymarket and Binance Hacks

Dextape brief

By Dextape Desk · November 5, 2026

Polygon is weighing a hard fork that would move about 70.49 million POL, taken in two separate breaches involving Polymarket and Binance, into recovery wallets named by those platforms. Validators would approve an upgrade that zeroes balances at five attacker-controlled addresses and credits equal amounts to verified recovery addresses. The incidents happened October 29 and 30, with about 23.86 million POL tied to Polymarket and 46.63 million to Binance. For now, a block list keeps the tokens frozen, but Polygon calls that a stopgap because it cannot return funds to owners. Both platforms must prove control of their recovery addresses. Other tokens, including Binance's frozen USDT, are outside the plan. The change still needs governance approval, testing on Amoy, and validator support.

Why it matters: It shows how a blockchain network could be asked to reverse stolen transfers, a step that Polygon itself describes as an extreme measure and not a general mechanism.

Mentioned: Polygon, Tether, Binance

Summary by Dextape, based on reporting by CryptoPotato. Written with AI from the publisher’s text and checked automatically for copied wording and unsupported figures. Not investment advice.