For a long time, Ethereum was considered the undisputed king of fee generation. However, recent data from Token Terminal highlights a historic shift: the Polygon network has officially surpassed the “King of Smart Contracts” in daily transaction fees for the first time.
The Numbers Behind the Flip
The turning point occurred in mid-February. The revenue statistics for both networks tell a compelling story:
| Date | Polygon Fees | Ethereum Fees |
| February 14 | $407,100 | $211,700 |
| February 15 | $303,923 | $285,480 |
While the gap may seem narrow, the fact that a Layer 2 (L2) solution is generating more revenue than the mainnet signals a massive surge in real-world user activity.
The Main Driver: The “Polymarket” Effect
What triggered this sudden spike? The answer lies in a single powerhouse application: the prediction platform Polymarket.
According to Matthias Seidl, co-founder of the analytics platform growthepie, Polymarket has become the “locomotive” of the ecosystem, contributing over $1 million in fees to the blockchain in just seven days. For context, the second-largest app in the ecosystem—Origin World—generated only about $130,000.
Cultural Infrastructure: The Polygon team emphasized that Polymarket is evolving into more than just a betting site. They call it “cultural infrastructure.” A single market dedicated to the Academy Awards saw over $15 million in total bets.
Stablecoins and Micropayments: Polygon Squeezes the Competition
Beyond prediction markets, the network is seeing a massive influx of both institutional and retail users moving USDC.
- USDC Dominance: Polygon hit a weekly record of 28 million USDC transactions, effectively outpacing Solana in this specific metric.
- The x402 Protocol: The network has also taken the lead in organic micropayments. Transactions via the x402 protocol reached $1.2 million, with 358,000 operations recorded in a single week.
Technical Foundation: The Madhugiri Upgrade
This explosion in activity wasn’t a fluke; it was supported by significant technical improvements. The Madhugiri update, deployed in December, is already paying dividends:
- Throughput has increased by 33%.
- Consensus time has been slashed to just one second.
This makes Polygon not only one of the most cost-effective L2s but also one of the fastest, proving it can handle the heavy lifting of mass adoption.
