Polymarket experienced a short service disruption after Polygon PoS ran into technical issues at roughly the same time. Users attempting to access their accounts were shown an outage notice along with a prompt asking them to reload the page, which quickly sparked concern across the platform’s user base.
While the downtime itself was limited, the timing raised questions about Polymarket’s underlying infrastructure dependencies.
Downdetector Data Shows the Scale of the Disruption
Downdetector recorded a sharp spike in user reports connected to Polymarket during the outage window. The majority of users, about 86%, reported website-related issues, while 11% cited login problems and 3% said the website failed to load altogether.
Because the volume of reports surged far beyond normal activity levels, Downdetector automatically triggered an incident alert, signaling that the problem was widespread rather than isolated.
Read More: Polymarket Get Green Light
A Broader Cloudflare Issue Came Into Focus
Later updates on X confirmed that Polymarket’s service had been restored and that key features were operating normally again. At the same time, network telemetry and user reports suggested the disruption was part of a broader Cloudflare incident that affected routing and content delivery across multiple regions.
These types of Cloudflare outages often take multiple platforms offline simultaneously, which helps explain why Polymarket was impacted even though the root cause extended beyond its own systems.
Why Discussion Around a Polymarket L2 Is Growing Louder
Following the outage, a Discord message from a team member named Mustafa suggested that building a custom Layer 2 network is now Polymarket’s top priority. The message appeared intended to reassure users, but it offered no technical details, roadmap, or timeline.
Community discussions quickly connected the L2 push to long-standing speculation around a potential $POLY token and a future airdrop, though the team has not confirmed any such plans publicly.
Polygon Explains What Went Wrong on Its Network
Polygon later shared that a bug on Polygon PoS affected certain nodes and reduced RPC availability across several infrastructure providers. Engineers identified the issue quickly and deployed a patch that restored full functionality, while validators continued syncing and the network moved back toward quorum.
The disruption primarily affected Bor, the block production and transaction execution layer. Although multiple nodes stalled and RPC access weakened, the block producer continued operating and kept producing blocks, allowing the chain to remain live throughout the incident.
Some RPC disruption persisted during the recovery phase, even as transactions continued to be processed.
Earlier Slowdowns Add Important Context
Polygon also pointed to earlier performance issues. On December 12, some transactions appeared stuck or missing, prompting the team to advise users to resubmit transactions with gas prices at least 10% higher. A fix was deployed the following day, and the network entered a monitoring phase.
A similar incident in September delayed block finality for several minutes on certain Bor and Erigon nodes, temporarily affecting validators and infrastructure providers.
What This Means for Polymarket Going Forward
For Polymarket, the outage underscored how closely uptime is tied to RPC reliability, node stability, and core internet infrastructure. Each dependency introduces potential points of failure that are largely outside the platform’s direct control.
A dedicated Layer 2 would not eliminate all risk, but it would give Polymarket greater control over its infrastructure and reduce exposure to external disruptions. While no official L2 plan has been announced yet, the recent outage has clearly accelerated the conversation.
