Polygon Flips Ethereum in Daily Fees for the First Time in History

Polygon (POL) recently recorded higher daily transaction fees than Ethereum (ETH) for the first time since its launch. The shift occurred on February 13, 2026, when Polygon generated $407,100 in daily fees, compared with Ethereum’s $211,700.

Token Terminal first highlighted the data on February 16, 2026, in a post on X, reporting that Polygon’s daily fees exceeded $300,000 on February 15. 

The fee reversal continued for two additional days:

• February 13, 2026: Polygon $407,100 vs. Ethereum $211,700
• February 14, 2026: Polygon $303,000 vs. Ethereum $285,000
• February 15, 2026: Polygon $303,923 vs. Ethereum $285,480

The margin narrowed after the first day, but Polygon maintained the lead across the three-day period.

What Drove the Surge in Polygon’s Daily Fees?

Polymarket’s Rapid Growth

The primary driver was activity on Polymarket, a prediction market platform that operates exclusively on Polygon using USDC.

Over the seven days preceding the flip, Polymarket generated more than $1 million in fees on Polygon. The next-highest application, Origin World, generated $130,000 in the same period. On peak days in early 2026, Polymarket accounted for 66.7% of Polygon’s total daily fees. Since September 2025, its share of Polygon’s fee revenue increased from 5% to more than 65%.

Prediction markets as a sector reached a weekly record of $2.7 million in fees. Opinion markets represented 54.3% of that total, while Polymarket’s short-term markets contributed $787,000, equal to 28.4%.

A single Oscars-related market on Polymarket attracted more than $15 million in wagers, increasing on-chain transaction volume.

In 2025, Polymarket recorded $9 billion in annual trading volume. The sector is projected to reach $44 billion by 2035, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 47%.

Network Upgrades and Throughput Gains

Polygon implemented the Madhugiri hardfork in December 2025. The upgrade increased throughput by 33% and reduced block consensus time to one second. The network also expanded the capabilities for parallel execution.

These changes enabled Polygon to process high transaction volumes without congestion. Prediction markets require fast settlement and low fees, which favored Polygon’s architecture during periods of heavy usage.

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal previously highlighted the network’s decentralization model and roadmap, including a zkL2 upgrade planned under the Polygon 2.0 framework.

Stablecoin and Micropayment Activity

Polygon recorded 28 million USDC transactions in one week, surpassing Solana’s 22 million during the same period. It also led activity on the x402 protocol, processing $1.2 million in organic micropayments across 358,000 transactions.

The network facilitates more than $1 billion in daily peer-to-peer payments. These figures reflect sustained stablecoin usage, which generates fee revenue through high transaction counts.

Ethereum’s higher base-layer fees can limit high-volume, low-value transactions. While Ethereum remains dominant in total revenue, Polygon captured a concentrated share of demand in prediction markets and stablecoin transfers.

How Does This Compare With Historical Data?

Polygon has previously surpassed Ethereum on other metrics, but not on daily fee generation until February 2026.

In October 2021, Polygon briefly surpassed Ethereum in daily active addresses, reaching 566,516. By December 2022, Polygon recorded approximately 394,500 daily users, compared with Ethereum’s 344,600.

In 2025, Polygon processed 18 million daily transactions at peak usage. Historically, Ethereum led fee generation. In May 2023, Ethereum recorded $374.9 million in 30-day revenue, while Polygon recorded $3 million. In April 2023, Polygon ranked 14th in seven-day revenue comparisons.

Polygon’s ecosystem expanded to more than 45,000 decentralized applications and $1.15 billion in total value locked by 2026. Its tokenomics include a deflationary mechanism that burns 0.27% of the total supply annually. On a single day, 3 million POL were burned, representing 0.03% of the supply.

Earlier transaction spikes in 2021 were attributable to spam attacks, which increased activity to 8 million transactions per day. After transaction fees increased to 30 gwei, spam volume declined by 75%.

What Does This Mean for Ethereum and Layer-2 Competition?

Ethereum remains the dominant network in overall fee generation and total value locked. It recorded $4.72 million in fee revenue in the first quarter of 2026. However, its revenue is distributed across decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens, staking, and other sectors.

Ethereum’s decentralized finance total value locked declined by $20 billion in early 2026. Exchange-traded fund outflows totaled $5 billion during the same period.

Polygon ranks second in active users within the Ethereum ecosystem and leads in stablecoin transaction volume. Analysts note that fee generation does not equal value secured. Ethereum’s base layer continues to secure significantly more capital.

Nevertheless, periods of elevated Ethereum gas fees have historically encouraged migration to layer-2 networks. The February 2026 event mirrors trends observed in 2021 when congestion shifted activity toward scaling solutions.

Polygon 2.0 and its AggLayer framework aim to unify liquidity and increase interoperability across chains. If prediction market and stablecoin usage remain high, Polygon could sustain elevated fee revenue.

What Are the Market Implications for POL?

On February 14, 2026, POL rose 17.55% intraday before retracing. Governance proposals have suggested ending 2% token inflation through treasury buybacks, thereby increasing deflationary pressure under current tokenomics.

Institutional interest in Polygon has grown. Asset managers such as Grayscale and Bitwise have explored crypto investment products that include exposure to scaling networks. Consumer brands, including Nike, Reddit, and Stripe, have integrated Polygon into their digital asset initiatives.

Final Thoughts 

Polygon’s temporary lead in daily fees reflects concentrated demand from prediction markets and stablecoin transactions. The February 13–15 data shows that application-level growth can shift revenue dynamics, even within established ecosystems.

Ethereum remains the primary settlement layer by total capital secured and diversified usage. Polygon’s performance demonstrates that scaling networks can capture fee leadership during periods of high activity in specific sectors.

The event marks a measurable shift in daily fee generation. Whether it becomes sustained depends on continued growth in application usage, network upgrades, and broader market conditions.

Sources:

• Tokenterminal: Total Transaction fees paid by users on the Polygon Network 
• X Post: Polygon Flipped Ethereum in Daily Transaction Fees
• Yahoo: Polygon Flips Ethereum in Daily Fees as Polymarket Oscar Betting Hits $15M
• Coinmarketcap: Polygon Price Movement