Polygon Bridged USDC (Polygon PoS) (USDC.E) Daily Market Analysis 16 February 2026

Polymarket Migration Signals Major Shift Away from Bridged USDC.E

Polymarket has officially commenced its transition to native USDC for on-chain settlement through a strategic partnership with Circle Internet Group, marking the definitive end of the "bridged asset" era for the platform and replacing the older USDC.e (bridged USDC) with a direct, regulated dollar instrument issued on the Polygon network.

Partnership Details and Timeline

Circle will introduce native Polymarket USDC in the "coming months." The launch of native USDC will coincide with a discontinuation of support for deposits and withdrawals of the bridged USDC via Circle Mint and its APIs on November 10th.

Polymarket, built on the Ethereum scaling solution Polygon, uses a bridged asset called USDC.e as its main payment method, supporting all trading activity, order placement, and settlements, with all deposits from other chains, like Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, and Base, automatically swapped to USDC.e on Polygon.

Market Implications and Risk Reduction

Investors view this migration not merely as a technical upgrade, but as a critical "de-risking" event that opens the floodgates for large-scale institutional participation. Bridges have been a known vulnerability in DeFi, with over $2 billion lost to exploits since 2020, according to Chainalysis.

On Manifold Markets, the probability that Polymarket maintains its "Volume Crown" through 2026 has surged to 47%, a 10% jump following the announcement.

Circle's Broader Strategy

In a 2026 roadmap, Circle CTO Nikhil Chandhok said the firm would be "deepening native support on high-impact networks," and boosting USDC's interoperability. USDC, the second-largest stablecoin, is natively issued on about 30 chains.

Current Market Data

As of February 7, 2026, Polygon Bridged USDC (Polygon PoS) (USDC.E) is trading at $0.999804, with the lowest price in the last 24 hours at $0.999647 and the highest at $1.00. The market cap is $869.21M.

I need to search for the specific Polygon PoS USDC.E token, as the results returned different bridged USDC variants. Let me search for more specific information.

Market Sentiment Analysis: USDC.E (Polygon Bridged USDC)

Overall Sentiment: Neutral to Slightly Negative

USDC.E maintains a neutral market sentiment characterized by price stability near peg but declining trading activity and structural headwinds. The asset demonstrates minimal price volatility typical of stablecoins, yet faces significant medium-term uncertainty due to planned deprecation.

Price Stability and Technical Metrics

USDC.E is trading at $0.9997 with a 24-hour trading volume of $15.18M and a market cap of $748.03M. The asset represents a 0.00% price increase in the last 24 hours and a 0.00% price increase in the past 7 days, reflecting expected stablecoin behavior. However, trading volume decreased 20.10% from one day ago, signalling a recent fall in market activity.

Structural Headwinds and Deprecation Risk

The most significant sentiment driver is the announced transition away from USDC.E. Polymarket will replace bridged USDC.e with native USDC via a Circle partnership, enabling direct on‑chain trading and faster settlements on Polygon. The launch of native USDC will coincide with a discontinuation of support for deposits and withdrawals of the bridged USDC via Circle Mint and its APIs on November 10th.

This transition creates a bearish outlook for USDC.E holders, as the asset is being actively phased out in favor of native USDC. Polymarket partnership improves usability, attracting traders, but this improvement benefits native USDC rather than the bridged variant.

Polygon Ecosystem Context

The broader Polygon ecosystem sentiment provides limited support for USDC.E. Polygon's community is cautiously optimistic, buzzing about its strategic pivot to payments infrastructure while wrestling with the stark disconnect between strong on-chain activity and lagging price performance. Strong fundamentals like record burns and stablecoin volume clash with a -90% price drop, sparking discussions on value capture.

Trading Activity and Liquidity

The most popular exchange to buy and trade Polygon Bridged USDC is Uniswap V4 (Polygon), where the most active trading pair USDC.E/USDC has a trading volume of $15,480,886.82 in the last 24 hours. The concentration of volume on a single pair indicates limited diversified demand.

Risk Assessment

The risk score for USDC.E stands at 59.69, indicating moderate risk despite its stablecoin classification. This elevated risk reflects deprecation uncertainty and the planned transition timeline rather than traditional volatility concerns.

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