- During the 2026 Winter Olympics, travelers using Milan, Rome and Venice airports can receive an immediate refund of their VAT in the following ways: $USDC with polygons.
- This deployment, supported by Global Blue and Shift4, will speed up digital refunds and accelerate cross-border payments.
Polygon is a USD coin ($USDC) for international travelers at Italian airports during the 2026 Winter Olympics. system enable Use Polygon’s blockchain rails to enable fast, stablecoin-based payments at venues such as Milan, Rome, and Venice airports.
The arrangement will be available in February and will be offered at airport refund points in Milan, Rome and Venice. Travelers who choose this option will receive their refund digitally, eliminating wait times associated with international payments, bank hours, and cross-border card refunds. This service is intended for the standard duty free shopping workflow used by non-EU visitors who validate the form upon departure and receive a refund through an approved provider.
Polygon promotes instant tax refunds. $USDC At an Italian airport during the 2026 Winter Olympics!
A practical example of a stablecoin providing real-world utility to users around the world. https://t.co/JzOmsMGVCd
— Sandeep | Polygon Foundation (※,※) CEO (@sandeepnailwal) February 12, 2026
Airport guidance for Italian VAT refunds typically requires documentation such as tax exemption forms, passports, boarding passes, etc. and is only applicable to non-EU residents. These steps will remain part of the process at participating airports.
Global Blue, a duty-free shopping and refund provider, and Shift4, a payments company, are the operating partners enabling the airport deployment. In this model, the blockchain layer runs in the background, but customer-facing steps remain tied to existing refund counters and compliance checks.
Recently Polygon proposed PIP-82. It plans to recycle up to $1 million in Polygon PoS base gas fees for eligible agent commerce and x402 transactions. CNF noticed unused item $POL will be sent to the Write Collector and the program will either recycle the entire $1 million amount or end on December 31, 2026.
How Polygon’s airport refund rollout works
polygon‘s role is to provide payment rails $USDC Since you have paid, you can receive a refund as soon as your eligibility is verified. Participating locations include airports connecting to the Milan region, as well as hub airports serving Rome and Venice, which are the main gateways for winter tourism in Italy.
The timing coincides with an increase in international travel during the XXV Winter Olympics, which are currently being held in Italy. Organizers expect an increase in passenger numbers and retail business, and airport refund lines have become a recurring point of friction for travelers. In that context, stablecoin payments provide an alternative to slower refund methods.
However, the news did not disclose the number of transactions, fee arrangements, profit conditions, etc. Still, this announcement connects Polygon’s payments use case to its established travel retail infrastructure through Global Blue’s duty-free network and Shift4’s payment processing system.
Introduction adds other features stable coin Programs that use $USDC For transfer. We previously covered how Billon launched an on-chain lending protocol on Polygon that is specifically designed for tokenized asset lending rather than general DeFi money markets. CNF added The system links tokenized RWA with yield to on-chain credit markets using segregated loan pools and exposed risk parameters.
Following the news from Polygon, $POL Prices rebounded approx. 5.8% around $0.102 on a 24 hour chart. This move was supported by stable trading volumes throughout the session.
