Polygon Surpasses Ethereum In Daily Fees As Activity Surge Signals Historic Shift

A major milestone is unfolding in the blockchain economy as Polygon records a historic “flippening” in daily transaction fees, overtaking Ethereum, the network it was built to scale.

According to on-chain analytics, Polygon’s daily fees recently climbed above the $300,000 mark, reflecting a surge in user activity and network utilization that continues to build momentum.

The development highlights a broader structural shift in how value accrues across blockchain ecosystems. While Ethereum remains the dominant base layer for decentralized applications, the data suggests that user behavior is increasingly gravitating toward scalable networks designed to handle higher throughput at lower cost.

On-chain metrics show Polygon generating more daily transaction fees than Ethereum — a milestone that underscores the scale of activity now occurring on the network. Fee generation is often used as a proxy for real economic demand, meaning the increase reflects not just higher usage but meaningful transactional volume.

The chart trajectory reveals a clear pattern. Ethereum’s fee levels fluctuate sharply, rising during periods of congestion and falling when demand cools. Polygon, by contrast, has followed a steady upward trend, gradually increasing fee generation over time until surpassing the mainnet.

This divergence illustrates a shift in where everyday transactional activity is happening. Instead of concentrating on the more expensive base layer, users appear to be conducting a growing share of interactions on networks optimized for efficiency.

Polygon is designed as a Layer 2 scaling solution, meaning its core value proposition is affordability. Transactions are intentionally cheaper than on Ethereum, allowing developers and users to interact with decentralized applications without facing high gas costs.

Because of this, the fact that Polygon now generates more total fees than Ethereum carries a deeper implication: activity volume has increased dramatically.

In simple terms, if a low-cost network produces more aggregate fees than a high-cost network, the only plausible explanation is a significant expansion in transaction count. The network’s economics are being driven by scale rather than price per transaction.

This dynamic reflects a broader evolution in blockchain adoption, where user growth and frequency of interactions become more important than individual transaction costs.

Supporting the fee milestone is a surge in stablecoin usage, particularly with USD Coin (USDC) transactions. Polygon recently recorded an all-time high in daily USDC activity, surpassing 12 million transactions in a single day.

The scale of this figure stands out when compared to other networks:

• Polygon: 12M+ daily USDC transactions
• Other chains: generally below 3M
• Competing ecosystems such as Base, Arbitrum, and Ethereum mainnet register significantly lower volumes

The surge suggests that stablecoin transfers, often a proxy for payments, trading, and on-chain settlement, are becoming a primary driver of Polygon’s growth.

Polygon just hit an all-time high in daily USDC transactions

And it's not even close.