Inside Polygon’s Mission to Connect Traditional Finance with Web3
Polygon Labs is positioning itself on the heart of the convergence between conventional finance and blockchain. In this interview, Aishwary Gupta, Global Head of Payments and RWA, discusses how Polygon Labs is constructing the infrastructure to make stablecoins and tokenized belongings really usable at scale, from enabling immediate, low-cost world funds to supporting institutional adoption of RWAs. He shares insights on regulation, partnerships, and the subsequent part of blockchain-based monetary techniques, the place shifting worth turns into as seamless as sending an electronic mail.
Could you please introduce your self and share your journey to Web3?
Before leaping into web3, I labored in funds and treasury administration at American Express, which gave me a deep understanding of how legacy techniques work, and the place they don’t. Payments are sluggish, fragmented, and costly for on a regular basis folks – particularly cross-border.
In 2021, I took a leap of religion and joined Polygon as the primary full-time DeFi rent. I had by no means labored in enterprise improvement earlier than, however given what I’d seen in TradFI, I knew this was the longer term I wished to assist construct.
From there, I arrange the Payments vertical – first inside DeFi and later as its personal standalone unit. My mission was to make stablecoins and digital belongings genuinely usable in actual economies as infrastructure that solves precise issues for customers, companies, and establishments.
How do you see the position of stablecoins evolving as a bridge between conventional and decentralized finance?
Stablecoins are beginning to perform like programmable, world cash, and that’s a game-changer. They’re paving the best way for money that may transfer 24/7, settle in seconds, and plug into each shopper apps and institutional techniques. We’re seeing them allow immediate, low-cost, borderless transactions in ways in which conventional rails can’t match. This is going on throughout world remittances, the place households can ship cash with out dropping vital worth to charges, in addition to cross-border funds and B2B settlements, the place companies are slicing days off their fee cycles. What’s modified dramatically is that establishments now have the regulatory readability and infrastructure to take part at scale.
What traits within the RWA tokenization house are at present shaping up as probably the most impactful for institutional adoption?
- Tokenized Treasuries and Ultra-Liquid Instruments: Institutions are gravitating towards tokenized variations of high-quality, extremely liquid belongings (e.g., short-term authorities bonds or money-market type funds). These merchandise signify a transparent “first wave” of institutional use-cases within the RWA house.
- They supply yield, transparency, and settlement effectivity.
- They act like “digital money equivalents” on-chain, which makes them interesting as each treasury holdings and collateral.
- Their adoption builds institutional consolation with the mechanics of tokenization (custody, settlement, audit) earlier than shifting into extra complicated asset courses.
- Infrastructure & Network Effects Matter — Fees, Finality, Ecosystem: The asset alone isn’t sufficient — adoption follows settlement plumbing and liquidity rails. For establishments to make significant allocations into tokenized belongings, the platform should ship:
- Low transaction prices and quick finality (lowering operational friction)
- Robust custodial, regulatory, and audit frameworks
- Growing ecosystem of secondary markets, liquidity channels, and standardised protocols
In this context, chains like Polygon (low charges, EVM-compatible) or devoted RWA rails achieve significance as a result of they create the “deep, sustainable markets” establishments search.
- Regulatory Clarity & Compliance Readiness: Institutional traders can’t function in an atmosphere of authorized ambiguity. Tokenized belongings demand clear frameworks round issuance, custody, switch restrictions, KYC/AML, and redemption mechanisms.
- Usability & Real-World Use-Cases Beyond Yield: While yield-bearing tokenised treasuries are early winners, the subsequent frontier is usability: how simply tokenised belongings combine into institutional workflows and broader ecosystems (collateralisation, programmable finance, on-chain liquidity). Key sides embody:
In your view, which sectors would be the first to broadly undertake tokenized RWAs — actual property, commodities, or treasury belongings?
Treasuries are already there. They have clear regulation, constant demand, and a easy threat profile. That’s why billions are already flowing into tokenized T-bills and MMFs.
Commodities will comply with rapidly. At Polygon, we have now a majority market share of non-USD stablecoins, and our infrastructure may assist commodity tokenization.
Real property is going on, however in lots of areas, it’s going to take longer as a result of the authorized buildings are extra complicated and range considerably by jurisdiction. But as these frameworks mature, we’ll see institutional capital movement into tokenized property as nicely.
How has the regulatory atmosphere round stablecoins influenced institutional confidence in utilizing them for funds and settlements?
Honestly, it’s modified the whole lot. Four years in the past, stablecoins have been caught in a regulatory gray zone, and establishments have been watching from the sidelines. Today, they’re constructing in-house applications, and MiCA in Europe has established a transparent licensing regime that firms function underneath. In the U.S., laws just like the GENIUS Act has given fee suppliers and fintechs the arrogance to transfer ahead with deliberate implementations.
That’s additionally why infrastructure has to evolve. Institutions want infrastructure that may assist their scale and safety necessities. Polygon permits this by way of our confirmed expertise stack and, more and more, by way of customizable networks by way of the Polygon CDK, which could be tailor-made to particular regulatory necessities, whether or not it’s privateness, KYC, or jurisdiction-specific compliance. It’s not about “public vs personal” blockchains however purpose-built infrastructure.
What is the long-term imaginative and prescient for Polygon’s involvement in connecting conventional monetary rails with Web3-based fee techniques?
The long-term imaginative and prescient is straightforward – allow everybody to transfer cash like we transfer info, quick, low-cost, world, and programmable.
We’re targeted on constructing infrastructure for fintechs, fee service suppliers, and banks that need the effectivity of blockchain with out sacrificing compliance or person expertise. This means sub-cent transaction charges, near-instant settlement, and the power to scale to tons of of 1000’s of transactions per second.
Through the AggLayer, we’re creating unified liquidity throughout chains in order that shifting worth feels so simple as sending an electronic mail. Users shouldn’t have to take into consideration which chain they’re on or how to bridge belongings.
Could you share some present or upcoming partnerships Polygon is exploring to broaden RWA integration?
We’re actively working with asset managers on tokenized cash market funds and with authorities entities, such because the state of Wyoming, on their blockchain initiatives. Our collaboration with Securitize enabled BlackRock’s BUIDL fund to launch on Polygon.
On the enterprise facet, we’re supporting initiatives like Libre, which is utilizing Polygon CDK to construct devoted infrastructure for different funding tokenization, with companions together with Brevan Howard and Hamilton Lane.
We’re additionally increasing partnerships in funds to be used circumstances starting from stablecoin transfers to cross-border B2B settlements.
What are the largest boundaries stopping world fee networks from absolutely adopting stablecoins?
Many jurisdictions nonetheless lack clear frameworks for KYC/AML compliance and for dealing with overseas alternate dangers in stablecoin transactions. As that readability emerges, adoption occurs.
User expertise stays a hurdle. Wallet administration, key custody, and fiat on- and off-ramps could be complicated. Users shouldn’t want to perceive gasoline charges or blockchain mechanics to ship a fee.
Most importantly, infrastructure should match the normal fee scale. Payment networks want blockchain infrastructure able to Visa-level throughput with constant sub-second finality. At Polygon, we’re working towards the technical functionality to scale to 100,000+ TPS as demand grows.
How do Polygon’s options handle person expertise and accessibility challenges that usually restrict stablecoin adoption?
We’re targeted on eradicating blockchain complexity from the person expertise. This means gasless transactions by way of account abstraction, seamless fiat on/off ramps by way of partnerships with platforms like Stripe and Revolut, and unified cross-chain experiences by way of AggLayer. Our partnerships with main fee gateways imply customers can entry stablecoin performance by way of interfaces they already know and belief. The purpose is that customers work together with functions, not blockchains.
How do you personally outline the “subsequent leap” for blockchain-based monetary techniques?
The subsequent leap occurs when blockchain infrastructure turns into invisible. We’ll know we’ve arrived when tokenized treasuries, commodities, and actual property are traded with the identical liquidity and much larger effectivity than their conventional counterparts.
What milestones ought to we anticipate from Polygon’s funds and RWA initiatives in 2025?
We’re increasing our partnerships optimized for funds use circumstances throughout Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, and scaling our ZK expertise to deal with mainstream fee volumes.
You’ll see us deepen our RWA focus not simply on asset issuance, however on utility and distribution, in order that tokenized belongings are maximally productive by way of DeFi integrations and institutional-grade infrastructure.
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