Polymarket Hires Ex-Zora CEO for Onchain Product Push

Polymarket announced the appointment of former Zora CEO Jacob Horne to lead product development with a focus on its DeFi offering. CEO Shayne Coplan said the performance of the platform’s on‑chain product has declined as the company scales.

Product Strategy and Community Feedback

Coplan noted that some long‑time users feel Polymarket has shifted attention toward its U.S. business. The company plans to unify its product suite, though no launch dates or fee changes were disclosed. A DeFi town hall will be held soon to gather community input, and users are invited to send feedback directly to Horne or Coplan.

Technical Challenges with the Central Limit Order Book

The core issue identified internally is the central limit order book (CLOB), which matches signed orders and settles trades on Polygon. Vice president of DeFi engineering Josh Stevens described the existing CLOB as “full of tech debt” and said its foundations are flawed.

Rebuilding the Matching Engine

Stevens announced that the CLOB is being rewritten from scratch in Rust, targeting a mid‑to‑late Q4 release. Early benchmarks suggest the new engine could achieve 10‑20× lower 99th‑percentile latency and handle up to 200,000 orders per second—about 15× the current capacity. The existing CLOB will remain operational during the transition, with minimal breaking changes for integrators.

Fee Structure Remains Unchanged

Polymarket currently charges taker fees based on market categories, while makers pay no fees and collected fees fund rebate programs. The recent announcement did not indicate any changes to this fee model or introduce new liquidity incentives.