Binance and prediction market platform Polymarket have jointly proposed a hard fork of the Polygon network to recover approximately 70.49 million POL tokens stolen in separate security incidents. The proposal, submitted for governance discussion on Nov. 5, seeks to restore funds valued at roughly $6.8 million to their rightful owners by altering the blockchain state at a predetermined block.
Recovery mechanism and allocation
The proposed hard fork would remove the stolen assets from five attacker-controlled addresses and transfer them to verified recovery wallets designated by the two platforms. According to the governance proposal, the process would not change the total supply of POL tokens. Instead, it would effectively reverse the unauthorized transfers while maintaining network integrity.
The recovery plan addresses losses from two distinct events. It covers 23.86 million POL, valued at $2.31 million, held across four addresses linked to the Polymarket hack. Additionally, it targets 46.63 million POL, worth approximately $4.51 million, located in a single address associated with the Binance breach.
Current status and next steps
Polygon block producers have already implemented temporary measures by blocking transactions from the affected addresses, preventing the stolen funds from moving further. However, the proposal notes that these restrictions are interim solutions and cannot permanently return the funds to their owners without a protocol-level change.
Activation of the hard fork requires formal governance approval and successful testing on Polygon’s Amoy testnet. While the proposal is scheduled for discussion on Nov. 5, there is currently no confirmed date for the mainnet implementation. The initiative follows a record $6.3 billion hack suffered by Binance on Oct. 29 and a separate incident where Polymarket temporarily suspended trading after reporting a compromise involving a third-party provider.
