Polygon Shatters Traditional Payment Limits With This New Feature...

Bridging Card Rails and On-Chain Liquidity

@0xPolygon has introduced Auth/Capture primitives to its Open Money Stack, a move designed to close the gap between how traditional card payments work and how on-chain stablecoin liquidity is managed.

The new infrastructure allows card issuers to place a hold on any ERC-20 asset, including $USDC, $USDT, and $PYUSD, and settle the final amount at a later point. Critically, the issuer does not need to take custody of the funds at any stage. The non-custodial design means that if a hold expires before settlement, the funds are automatically released back to the user without requiring any manual intervention.

The system operates across all major EVM-compatible networks, including @Ethereum and @Base, giving issuers broad reach without being locked into a single chain.

Part of a Larger Payments Push

The Auth/Capture feature sits within Polygon's broader Open Money Stack, a modular framework unveiled in January 2026 and intended to support stablecoin-based payments and streamline cross-border value transfers. The stack is designed to work across different blockchains and be customizable, allowing financial institutions and fintech firms to integrate components such as on-chain settlement, fiat access, and compliance tools.

The Open Money Stack is built on Polygon's existing blockchain infrastructure, which already processes billions in stablecoin transfers for fintechs, enterprises, and institutions, with many components already live and designed for high-volume payments and enterprise-grade reliability.

Stablecoin supply on Polygon has reached a three-year high of $3.3 billion, underscoring the network's growing role as a preferred settlement layer for fintechs and institutions seeking faster, programmable money movement.

The Auth/Capture primitive mirrors the authorization and capture flow that underpins most card transactions today, where a merchant places a temporary hold on a card at the point of sale and only captures the final charge once the transaction is confirmed. Replicating that mechanic on-chain, without custodial risk, is a key step toward making stablecoin-based card programs commercially viable for issuers.

By decoupling liquidity, settlement, and compliance into modular components, the platform enables institutions to adopt only the tools they need without overhauling their existing systems.

Sources:
CoinDesk: Polygon Labs Unveils Open Money Stack
Polygon: Open Money Stack Official Page
CryptoNews: Polygon Launches Open Money Stack for Onchain Settlement