Polygon Scales Network After Record Usage Pushes Fees Higher

Polygon, which supports everything from payments to DeFi apps, NFTs, and games, is currently handling some of the heaviest traffic in its history. It runs alongside Ethereum and is often used when Ethereum’s main network becomes slow or expensive.

Recently, that demand reached a new peak.

During the surge in activity, Polygon users paid more than 13.6 million POL in transaction fees. Of that amount, over 12.5 million POL were burned and permanently removed from circulation.

These numbers matter because they show people weren’t just moving tokens around cheaply. They were actively willing to pay for blockspace.

What fee generation and token burning actually mean

Every time someone sends a transaction on Polygon, they pay a small fee in POL, the network’s native token. A portion of those fees is burned, meaning those tokens are permanently destroyed and can never be used again.

According to Polygon’s own figures: “During a period of ATH usage, the network generated 13,600,000+ POL in fees (up 7.2X) and burned 12,500,000+ POL (up 10X).”

A jump of this size usually points to real demand. It also means the network was under pressure. As activity picked up and more transactions hit the network at the same time, fees started creeping higher.

Rising demand brought higher gas fees

Users pay gas fees to get their transactions confirmed. When the network gets busy and block space fills up, those fees tend to rise as transactions compete to be included.

Polygon was no exception. As activity climbed to all-time highs, gas prices became less predictable. For users running applications or moving funds frequently, that kind of volatility can be disruptive.

In response, Polygon activated a network upgrade known as the Dandeli hardfork.

A hardfork is a protocol upgrade that changes how the blockchain operates at a fundamental level. Nodes must update their software for the changes to take effect.

Polygon described the result this way: “Following this period of ATH usage and heightened gas prices, the Dandeli hardfork has successfully stabilized gas costs on Polygon.”

What changed after the Dandeli upgrade

The Dandeli upgrade focused on how much work Polygon can handle in each block.

A block is a bundle of transactions added to the blockchain every few seconds. Each block has a gas limit, which caps how much computation it can include. When blocks fill up too quickly, fees rise.

After the upgrade: 

• Polygon increased its peak block capacity by roughly 30%.
• The gas target — the level the network aims to operate at — was raised from 50% to 65%.
• Network throughput reached about 20 million gas per second, a measure of how much activity the chain can process.

Polygon summarized this change by saying: “What’s new: More capacity per block. More predictable fees when demand gets heavy.”

For everyday users, predictability matters. Even slightly higher fees can be manageable if they don’t suddenly spike without warning.

Scaling instead of restricting users

One thing worth noting is the approach Polygon took. When blockchains become congested, there are a few common responses. Some chains let fees rise sharply. Others restrict usage, either indirectly through high costs or directly by limiting throughput.

Polygon chose to expand capacity instead. That choice reflects a broader philosophy: absorb demand rather than push it away. Whether that approach continues to work as activity grows further is an open question.

A move toward self-adjusting fees

Polygon also hinted that this upgrade is not the final step. The team said it plans to make gas parameters dynamic in the future, meaning the network could automatically adjust limits based on demand rather than relying on manual upgrades.

Polygon explained: “In the future, we will be working on making both gas limit and gas target dynamic so they can adjust to maintain gas fees at healthy levels making it suitable for the users while also making sure that the chain earns sufficient fees.”

If implemented, this would allow the network to respond more smoothly to sudden usage spikes. But dynamic systems also add complexity, and how well they perform in real market conditions remains to be seen.

Part of Polygon’s larger scaling push

The upgrade fits into what Polygon calls its Gigagas roadmap, an internal plan aimed at pushing transaction capacity far beyond current levels.

Polygon framed this effort by stating: “The Gigagas roadmap is in full swing for Polygon and primed to bring all money onchain.”

From a neutral standpoint, the ambition is clear. Polygon wants to be an infrastructure capable of handling sustained, high-value financial activity. Whether it can do so consistently will depend on how the network performs during future demand surges.

What comes next

The Dandeli upgrade went live at Block 81424000. Polygon has said it will continue monitoring base gas fees and adjust parameters if needed.

For now, the takeaway is straightforward: Polygon is no longer operating in a low-stress environment. It is seeing enough real usage to force changes at the protocol level.

How well those changes hold up will become clearer the next time the network is pushed to its limits.

Also Read: EdgeX Overtakes Tron, Hyperliquid, and Other Chains in 24-Hour Fees

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