Polymesh

Polymesh (POLYX) is a public, permissioned layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for regulated assets such as security tokens, with identity, compliance, and settlement rules enforced at the protocol level. It was created by the team behind Polymath, whose ERC-20 POLY token was upgraded 1:1 to native POLYX when the chain launched in 2021.

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What Is Polymesh?

Polymesh (ticker POLYX) is a layer-1 blockchain built specifically for regulated assets, often called real-world assets or security tokens. Unlike general-purpose chains, where compliance has to be bolted on through smart contracts, Polymesh bakes identity, compliance, confidentiality, governance, and settlement into the base protocol. It is a public chain that anyone can use, but it is permissioned at the validator level: only licensed financial entities can operate the nodes that produce blocks.

Overview - Table of Contents
What Is Polymesh?
Getting Started With Polymesh
How To Get A Polymesh Wallet?
Polymesh Resources
How To Buy Polymesh?
Latest Polymesh News

Polymesh grew out of Polymath, a security token platform founded in 2017 by Trevor Koverko and Chris Housser. Polymath raised about $59 million in a January 2018 token sale for its ERC-20 token POLY and helped drive the ERC-1400 security token standard on Ethereum. The team eventually concluded that a general-purpose chain was a poor fit for regulated securities, so in 2019 it announced Polymesh, a purpose-built chain designed in collaboration with Ethereum and Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson, who served as co-architect. The chain was built with Parity's Substrate framework, the same toolkit behind Polkadot.

The Polymesh mainnet went live on October 28, 2021, launched by the Polymesh Association, a Swiss nonprofit set up to steward the network. As part of the launch, a one-way 1:1 upgrade bridge let holders convert Polymath's ERC-20 POLY into native POLYX; that bridge closed on February 29, 2024, completing the migration. In June 2025 the network's stewardship changed again, when Polymath acquired the Polymesh Association's assets and the organization transitioned into Polymesh Labs Ltd., a subsidiary of Polymath.

Identity is Polymesh's defining feature. Every account is tied to an on-chain decentralized identifier (DID), and users verify their identity through permissioned customer due diligence (CDD) providers before they can transact. Asset issuers can attach compliance rules directly to their tokens, and the protocol enforces those rules automatically on every transfer. Settlement is deliberate rather than automatic: both parties must affirm a transfer before it executes, which prevents unwanted airdrops and mirrors how regulated markets actually settle trades.

POLYX is the network's native utility token. It is used to pay transaction fees, to create and manage assets, to stake with node operators, and to vote in on-chain governance. Polymesh uses a nominated proof-of-stake model in which POLYX holders nominate the licensed node operators who secure the chain and share in staking rewards. POLYX has no fixed maximum supply; new tokens are minted each era to fund rewards, with annual issuance originally capped at 14 percent of total supply and shifting to a fixed 140 million POLYX per year once supply passed 1 billion. Total supply stood at roughly 1.29 billion POLYX as of mid-2026, and the reward model targets a 70 percent staking ratio.

The ecosystem around Polymesh is aimed squarely at institutions. Custodians and financial firms including BitGo, Zodia Custody, Galaxy's GK8, tZERO, and Republic have joined as partners and node operators, and Republic also acts as an identity provider on the network. The chain supports tokenized equity, debt, real estate, funds, and other regulated instruments, with a Confidential Assets feature, launched in 2026, that lets institutions settle privately while remaining auditable.

Getting Started With Polymesh

Because Polymesh is identity-based, getting started involves one extra step compared with most chains: verifying your identity on-chain.

Step 1: Install the Polymesh Wallet browser extension and create an account, which generates your decentralized identifier (DID).
Step 2: Complete identity verification through one of the network's customer due diligence (CDD) providers at the official onboarding portal. This is required before you can transact on-chain.
Step 3: Acquire POLYX on an exchange and withdraw it to your verified Polymesh account.
Step 4: Use the Polymesh Portal web app to stake POLYX with a node operator, vote on governance, or explore tokenized assets on the network.

How to Get a Polymesh Wallet?

POLYX lives on its own chain, so you need a Polymesh-specific wallet rather than an Ethereum one.

Polymesh Wallet

The official Polymesh Wallet is a browser extension, available from the Chrome Web Store, that manages your accounts and keys and connects to Polymesh apps. Creating an account automatically generates the on-chain identity (DID) that the network requires.

Polymesh Portal

The Polymesh Portal is the official web application for the network. Paired with the wallet extension, it lets you view balances, transfer POLYX, stake with node operators, and participate in governance from one interface.

Hardware Wallets

A Ledger hardware wallet can be connected through the Polymesh Wallet extension instead of a software account, keeping your private keys offline; this is recommended for larger holdings and long-term staking.

Polymesh Resources

How to Buy Polymesh?

POLYX trades mainly on centralized exchanges, since the identity requirements of the Polymesh chain itself mean there is no significant on-chain DEX market for the token.

Centralized Exchanges

POLYX is listed on major exchanges including Binance, Upbit, Crypto.com, HTX, and Gate, typically traded against USDT or local currencies. To withdraw POLYX to self-custody, you will need a Polymesh account that has completed the network's identity verification.

Decentralized Exchanges

Because Polymesh requires verified on-chain identities, POLYX does not trade on permissionless DEXes the way most tokens do. The original ERC-20 POLY token is no longer the canonical asset; its one-way upgrade bridge to POLYX closed in February 2024, so buyers should make sure they are acquiring native POLYX.

Latest Polymesh News

The biggest recent change is organizational: in June 2025 Polymath acquired the assets of the Polymesh Association, and the Swiss nonprofit transitioned into Polymesh Labs Ltd., a Polymath subsidiary, uniting the chain, the POLYX token, and the tokenization tooling under one roof. Around the same period the network saw a wave of institutional onboarding, with BitGo, Zodia Custody, Galaxy's GK8, tZERO, and Republic joining as partners and node operators; Republic alone brought more than 50 tokenized assets and over $2.6 billion in sponsored investments onto the network.

On the technology side, Polymesh launched its Confidential Assets feature on a developer network in December 2025 and announced its full availability on the network in May 2026, using zero-knowledge cryptography to give institutions private but audit-ready settlement. Because supply, staking rates, and the operator set change over time, the official website, documentation, and Subscan explorer are the best sources for the current state of the network.