\ What does it look like when a blockchain starts processing more payment volume than mid-sized banks?\While most of the crypto conversation in early 2026 has centered on Bitcoin ETF flows, meme coin cycles, and AI agent tokens, Polygon just posted numbers that no other blockchain matched. The network moved $29.8 billion in stablecoin volume across 282.1 million transfers, up 28% from December and marking a fourth consecutive monthly all-time high. USDC carried the bulk at $20.8 billion. USDT added $6 billion. DAI contributed $3 billion.\At the same time, USDC supply on Polygon hit $1.49 billion, another all-time high. Tazapay, a B2B cross-border payments platform operating across 173 countries, processed $687 million in monthly volume on Polygon in January 2026. Polymarket, the prediction market platform now valued at $9 billion, pushed $1.7 billion in volume on Polygon infrastructure during the same week. And $195 million in international stablecoins moved through the network, with Australian dollar-backed stablecoins leading at $76 million.\ \These are not vanity metrics from a testnet launch. This is settlement volume from production infrastructure used by Stripe, Revolut, Mastercard, and Flutterwave.\12 Million Daily USDC Transactions. Every Other Chain Was Below 3 Million.Then February pushed the numbers further. On February 17, 2026, Polygon set an all-time high for daily USDC transactions at 12 million. Base, Arbitrum, and Ethereum mainnet each registered below 3 million. The gap was not marginal, it was a 4x lead over the nearest competitor.\The same week, Polygon reached 28 million weekly USDC transactions, surpassing Solana's 22 million to become the most active USDC chain across the entire ecosystem. USDC transfers also hit a weekly record of 103 million. These numbers came from AlliumLabs data cited by growthepie co-founder Matthias Seidl, who confirmed the surge was driven primarily by Polymarket activity and stablecoin payments.\ \For context, more USDC moved on Polygon in a single day than on Ethereum, Base, and Arbitrum combined. That is not a theoretical benchmark. It is settlement data from a live network processing payments, prediction market trades, and cross-border transfers at the same time. When a single chain handles four times the USDC volume of every competitor, the question shifts from "is blockchain ready for payments" to "which chain is already doing it."\Polygon Flipped Ethereum in Daily Fees. Here Is What Actually Drove It.On February 14, 2026, Polygon collected $407,100 in daily transaction fees. Ethereum collected $211,700. That was the first time Polygon surpassed Ethereum on this metric.\The driver was Polymarket. The prediction market platform, now valued at $9 billion after a $2 billion investment from Intercontinental Exchange, generated over $1 million in Polygon network fees in seven days. Over $15 million in bets were placed on a single Oscars category alone. Polygon's cost structure made this volume possible. Transactions on the network average $0.0026. On Ethereum, the average is $1.68. That is a 646x cost difference. For a prediction market processing millions of micro-bets, or a remittance platform routing thousands of small transfers, that gap determines which chain gets the traffic.\Sandeep Nailwal, Founder of Polygon and CEO of the Polygon Foundation, explains,\ "We aspire Polygon to be the biggest stablecoin money movement avenue in the world. Our mission is to move all money onchain and rebuild how money works, so it is instant, reliable, programmable, and open."\The technical upgrades that enabled this throughput were delivered throughout 2025 under the Gigagas roadmap. The Bhilai hard fork pushed throughput to 1,000 TPS. Heimdall V2 introduced five-second finality. The Rio upgrade eliminated chain reorganizations. By December, the Madhugiri hard fork added another 33% capacity. These are not roadmap items. They shipped.\$810M on Revolut, $687M on Tazapay, $75M on Stripe. Surge in Enterprise Volume.The enterprise names on Polygon's payment rails separate it from competitors making theoretical claims. Revolut moved $810 million in total volume through Polygon in 2025. Tazapay, a B2B cross-border payments platform operating in 173 countries, processed $687 million on Polygon in January 2026 alone. Stripe processed over $75 million in payments on the network. Flutterwave extended stablecoin payments across 30 countries in Africa. Mastercard partnered with Polygon for username-based transfers on self-custody wallets.\ \Polygon also leads in non-USD stablecoin activity. The network has processed over $11.1 billion in lifetime volume for local-currency stablecoins, more than 43% of all such transfers across chains. This includes Mexican peso stablecoins in remittance corridors and Australian dollar-backed stablecoins, which led the $195 million in international stablecoin movement recorded last week.\ \$250 Million to Acquire Coinme and Sequence. The Regulatory Play Ahead To Create Dominance in Payments MarketIn January 2026, Polygon Labs signed definitive agreements to acquire Coinme and Sequence for over $250 million. This is the infrastructure play behind the Open Money Stack, Polygon's vertically integrated payments framework announced the same month.\Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, explains,\ "Stablecoins are increasingly being used as a settlement layer for global payments, but the infrastructure around them remains fragmented. These acquisitions give us regulated access to U.S. payment rails, wallet infrastructure, and cross-chain intents capabilities to build an open payments business on top of onchain settlement."\Coinme holds money-transmitter licenses in 48 U.S. states and operates fiat on/off-ramps across 50,000 retail locations. Sequence brings enterprise smart wallets and cross-chain transaction routing.Final ThoughtsThe numbers here tell a specific story. 94 million stablecoin transfers in one week. 12 million daily USDC transactions, four times more than any other chain. $29.8 billion in stablecoin volume in January. Stripe, Revolut, Mastercard, and Flutterwave running live production workloads on Polygon shows the future of payments we are heading too. \The open question remains whether Polygon, network's token, will capture value from this usage. Price has lagged network growth. But at the infrastructure level, what Polygon has assembled, throughput, cost structure, enterprise adoption, regulatory positioning, and a 43% share of non-USD stablecoin transfers, is something the payments industry will have to reckon with.\Don’t forget to like and share the story!\