Gas Fees on Ethereum Layer-2 Polygon (MATIC) Surge Over 1,000% as Users Mint POLS Tokens
Gas fees on Ethereum layer-2 Polygon (MATIC) surged more than 1,000% to reach a peak of $0.10 as users inundated the network with the minting of Ordinals-inspired tokens dubbed POLS. This surge in gas fees has caused a frenzy of enthusiasm for minting the new POLS token, with Dune Analytics data showing that more than 102 million MATIC tokens — worth $86 million at current prices — were used as gas.
In a Nov. 16 X (formerly Twitter) post, Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal shared his surprise at the elevated transaction activity on the network, saying the spike could’ve been due to the launch of a new Polygon-based nonfungible token (NFT) collection. Nailwal’s tweet read, “What is going on on @0xPolygon POS chain? 6m transactions in last 24 hrs. 170 TPS on average. 1mn+ MATIC burnt by the protocol. The chain worked smoothly, gas fees went crazy though but no reorgs or 0 blocks etc. I hear there is some game Baby Shark Launching, could that be the…”
The POLS token is built on a protocol dubbed PRC-20, which operates similarly to the Bitcoin Ordinals-derived BRC-20 token standard. According to data from Ethereum Virtual Machine data provider EVM, only 8.7% of the total POLS supply has been minted, with just over 18,100 owners claiming the token.
At the time of publication, Polygon gas fees have since returned to typical levels, settling at around 882 gwei. Gas fees quantify the amount of computing effort needed to conduct a transaction on a given blockchain, with 1 gwei equal to approximately 0.000000001 MATIC.
The Bitcoin network witnessed a similar, albeit more prolonged, spike in activity in May this year following the release of the Ordinals protocol, which allowed users to mint NFTs directly onto the Bitcoin blockchain. The ensuing frenzy for Ordinals NFTs and BRC-20 tokens saw Bitcoin fees reach levels not since April 2021, a development that saw more traditionally-minded Bitcoiners such as Samson Mow and Adam Back cast down the NFT protocol and token standard as wasteful.
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I've been involved in the cryptocurrency world since 2016 and trading since 2019. I started Moon and Lambo in 2021. I'm passionate about crypto and love to share my knowledge. I hate bankers and I hope that cryptocurrency will change the financial world for the better. View full profile...
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