Polygon Powers Instant USDC Tax Refunds at Italian Airports for 2026 Winter Olympics

• Throughout the 2026 Winter Olympics, vacationers at airports in Milan, Rome, and Venice can obtain immediate VAT refunds in $USDC on Polygon.
• The rollout, supported by International Blue and Shift4, hurries up digital refunds and accelerates cross-border settlement.

Polygon is powering immediate value-added tax (VAT) refunds in USD Coin ($USDC) for worldwide vacationers at Italian airports through the 2026 Winter Olympics. The system permits quick, stablecoin-based payouts at venues akin to Milan, Rome, and Venice airports utilizing Polygon’s blockchain rails.

The association is offered in February and is obtainable at airport refund factors serving Milan, Rome, and Venice. Vacationers who choose the choice obtain their refund digitally, eliminating wait instances related to worldwide clearing, banking hours, and cross-border card refunds. The service targets the usual tax-free purchasing workflow utilized by non-EU guests who validate types at departure after which acquire refunds via permitted suppliers.

Polygon is powering immediate tax refunds in $USDC at Italian airports through the 2026 Winter Olympics!

A sensible instance of stablecoins delivering real-world utility for international customers. https://t.co/JzOmsMGVCd

— Sandeep | CEO, Polygon Basis (※,※) (@sandeepnailwal) February 12, 2026

Airport steering for VAT refunds in Italy typically requires documentation akin to a Tax Free type, passport, and boarding move, and solely non-EU residents are eligible. These steps stay a part of the method at collaborating airports.

International Blue, a tax-free purchasing and refund supplier, and Shift4, a funds agency, are the operational companions enabling the airport deployment. Beneath the mannequin, the blockchain layer runs within the background whereas the customer-facing steps stay tied to current refund counters and compliance checks.

Just lately, Polygon proposed PIP-82, a plan to recycle as much as $1 million in Polygon PoS base fuel charges for eligible agentic commerce and x402 transactions. CNF famous that any unused $POL could be routed to the burn collector, and this system would finish as soon as the total $1 million is recycled or on December 31, 2026.

How Polygon’s Airport Refund Rollout Works

Polygon’s function is to offer the settlement rail for $USDC payouts, so refunds might be issued rapidly as soon as eligibility is confirmed. The collaborating places embody airports linked to the Milan space, in addition to hubs serving Rome and Venice, that are main entry and exit factors for winter tourism in Italy.

The timing aligns with elevated worldwide journey through the ongoing XXV Winter Olympic Video games in Italy. Organizers count on elevated passenger volumes and retail exercise, and airport refund queues are a recurring friction level for vacationers. In that context, stablecoin settlements are an alternative choice to slower refund strategies.

Nonetheless, the information doesn’t disclose transaction counts, price preparations, or income phrases. Nonetheless, the announcement hyperlinks Polygon’s funds use case to established travel-retail infrastructure via International Blue’s tax-free community and Shift4’s fee processing methods.

The deployment provides to different stablecoin packages that use $USDC for transfers. Beforehand, we coated that Billon launched an on-chain lending protocol on Polygon designed particularly for tokenized asset lending slightly than a basic DeFi cash market. CNF added that the system makes use of remoted lending swimming pools and printed danger parameters to hyperlink yield-bearing tokenized RWAs to on-chain credit score markets.

Following the Polygon information, the $POL value rallied about 5.8% to round $0.102 on the 24-hour chart. The transfer was backed by regular buying and selling quantity all through the session.