Polygon transactions surge to 2021 levels as Polymarket drives comeback

Polygon increased its total transactions to levels not seen since 2021. Activity on Polymarket is saving the L2 chain after the outflow of other types of apps. 

Polygon daily transactions are back to a one-year high, returning to the baseline levels during the 2021 bull market. Polygon reached record levels in late 2024, due to the popularity of Polymarket. The chain reflected Polymarket’s success in November and kept increasing its activity in the past two weeks.

Polygon transaction levels reached a yearly peak recently, driven by Polymarket activity and USDC payments. | Source: Polygon Scan

Now, Polygon seems to be making a lasting comeback, achieving over 8.1M transactions as of December 10. Polygon has now recovered about 50% of the transactions from the last quarter of 2025, when Polymarket settled some of its largest prediction markets, with peak open interest. 

Polygon has lost most of the previous activity from play-to-earn gaming from the 2021 bull market. Currently, Polymarket is the main source of activity, based on the usage of Polygon-based USDC tokens. 

Polygon is one of the few L2 chains to retain long-term growth and recover from the 2022-2023 bear market. The current apps are using the Polygon proof-of-stake chain, with almost no activity on the Polygon ZK-EVM network.

Polygon increases speed

One of the sources for growing transaction counts is the recently increased speed of Polygon. The chain introduced an update to increase transaction capacity by 30%, up to 1,400 transactions per second. 

Polygon’s most active transactions are POL token transfers, as well as cross-chain settlements. The network holds $2.8B in stablecoin liquidity, mostly relying on USDC. Stablecoins make up the bulk of Polygon-based tokens, as other assets launched on the chain retain only minimal value. 

The recent asset profile further proves that Polygon is mostly used to settle prediction markets. The chain also carries increasing traffic in P2P stablecoin settlements. 

POL token trades near all-time low

Despite the chain’s success, the native POL (MATIC) token kept sliding to new all-time lows. POL is at $0.11, with a constant slide in the past year. The Polygon community has also called for returning to the old ticker for its former popularity. 

Polygon is used as a utility chain, and some of the fees can be paid directly in USDC. POL remains a utility token and is not connected to DeFi usage, liquid staking, or other activities. As a result, Polygon has become a settlement layer, without turning into a speculative hub. 

The Polygon team focuses more on payments and RWA tokenization, without much focus on the native token. 

POL is still expected to make a comeback if the asset enters a hype phase. Currently, the token mostly sits in whale wallets and connected clusters, suggesting accumulation near the lower range. POL open interest is near an all-time low, at around $35M.

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