Polymarket USD

pUSD (Polymarket USD) is the collateral token used for all trading on Polymarket. It’s a standard ERC-20 token on Polygon, backed by USDC. The smart contract — which enables the withdrawal functionality — enforces the backing. No algorithmic peg, no fractional reserve.

Day to day, nothing changes. You load funds, see a balance, trade, and withdraw. pUSD is the technical settlement layer underneath the same experience you’re used to.

Why pUSD

The protocol settles all trading activity in native USDC, providing a more capital efficient, scalable, and institutionally aligned settlement standard as the platform continues to grow. pUSD is a standard ERC-20 wrapper that represents a USDC claim. Wrapping and unwrapping are enforced onchain by the CollateralOnramp and CollateralOfframp contracts.

Key facts


Token standard	ERC-20
Network	Polygon mainnet
Decimals	6
Backing	USDC (enforced onchain)
Transferable	Yes — standard ERC-20

pUSD is designed to function within Polymarket. There are no current plans to list it on external exchanges. See the Contracts page for all collateral-related contract addresses.

Wrapping — USDC.e → pUSD

Use the CollateralOnramp to wrap USDC.e into pUSD.

function wrap(address _asset, address _to, uint256 _amount) external

Parameters

_asset — address of the asset being wrapped. Must be USDC.e.
_to — recipient of the minted pUSD. Does not have to be msg.sender.
_amount — amount to wrap, in USDC.e base units (6 decimals).

Requirements

The caller must first approve the CollateralOnramp contract (not the pUSD token) to spend USDC.e.
Reverts with OnlyUnpaused() if the admin has paused USDC.e.

Example

import {
  createWalletClient,
  createPublicClient,
  http,
  parseAbi,
  parseUnits,
} from "viem";
import { polygon } from "viem/chains";
import { privateKeyToAccount } from "viem/accounts";

const account = privateKeyToAccount(process.env.PRIVATE_KEY as `0x${string}`);
const walletClient = createWalletClient({ account, chain: polygon, transport: http() });
const publicClient = createPublicClient({ chain: polygon, transport: http() });

const ONRAMP = "0x93070a847efEf7F70739046A929D47a521F5B8ee" as const;
const USDCE = "0x2791Bca1f2de4661ED88A30C99A7a9449Aa84174" as const; // USDC.e on Polygon

const amount = parseUnits("100", 6); // 100 USDC.e

// 1. Approve the Onramp to spend your USDC.e
const approveHash = await walletClient.writeContract({
  address: USDCE,
  abi: parseAbi(["function approve(address spender, uint256 amount) returns (bool)"]),
  functionName: "approve",
  args: [ONRAMP, amount],
});
await publicClient.waitForTransactionReceipt({ hash: approveHash });

// 2. Wrap USDC.e → pUSD
const wrapHash = await walletClient.writeContract({
  address: ONRAMP,
  abi: parseAbi(["function wrap(address _asset, address _to, uint256 _amount)"]),
  functionName: "wrap",
  args: [USDCE, account.address, amount],
});
await publicClient.waitForTransactionReceipt({ hash: wrapHash });

from web3 import Web3

ONRAMP = "0x93070a847efEf7F70739046A929D47a521F5B8ee"
USDCE = "0x2791Bca1f2de4661ED88A30C99A7a9449Aa84174"

amount = 100 * 10**6  # 100 USDC.e

# 1. Approve the Onramp to spend your USDC.e
usdce = w3.eth.contract(address=USDCE, abi=[{
    "name": "approve", "type": "function",
    "inputs": [{"name": "spender", "type": "address"},
               {"name": "amount", "type": "uint256"}],
    "outputs": [{"type": "bool"}],
}])
usdce.functions.approve(ONRAMP, amount).transact({"from": address})

# 2. Wrap USDC.e → pUSD
onramp = w3.eth.contract(address=ONRAMP, abi=[{
    "name": "wrap", "type": "function",
    "inputs": [{"name": "_asset", "type": "address"},
               {"name": "_to", "type": "address"},
               {"name": "_amount", "type": "uint256"}],
    "outputs": [],
}])
onramp.functions.wrap(USDCE, address, amount).transact({"from": address})

Unwrapping — pUSD → USDC.e

Use the CollateralOfframp to unwrap pUSD back into USDC.e.

function unwrap(address _asset, address _to, uint256 _amount) external

Parameters

_asset — asset you want to receive. Must be USDC.e.
_to — recipient of the underlying asset.
_amount — amount of pUSD to unwrap (6 decimals).

Requirements

The caller must first approve the CollateralOfframp contract to spend their pUSD.
Same pause gate as the Onramp.

Why pUSD

Key facts

Wrapping — USDC.e → pUSD

Example

Unwrapping — pUSD → USDC.e

Next steps

Contracts

Bridge

​Why pUSD

​Key facts

​Wrapping — USDC.e → pUSD

​Example

​Unwrapping — pUSD → USDC.e

​Next steps

Contracts

Bridge

Why pUSD

Key facts

Wrapping — USDC.e → pUSD

Example

Unwrapping — pUSD → USDC.e

Next steps