Polygon's Block Gas Limit Hits 90M Without a Hardfork
Polygon PoS has increased its block gas limit to 90 million, pushing live throughput past 2,100 transactions per second. The network announced the milestone on February 13, noting that the upgrade represents approximately a 38% increase over the previous 80M ceiling.
What makes this particular increase notable is the absence of a hardfork. Thanks to the Madhugiri upgrade deployed in December 2025, Polygon's block time and gas limit parameters are now configurable at the block producer level. That means validators can raise the ceiling incrementally without coordinating a network-wide hard fork, a flexibility that most Layer 1 and Layer 2 chains still lack.
The progression tells a clear story: 30M (pre-July 2025) to 45M (Bhilai hardfork) to 60M (Rio upgrade) to 80M (VEBlop) to now 90M. Each step has been executed live on mainnet, not in a devnet sandbox.
Why 2,100 TPS Matters More Than the Number Suggests
Raw TPS figures are easy to cherry-pick. What matters is sustained throughput under real transaction load, and Polygon's numbers are backed by on-chain demand rather than synthetic benchmarks.
On February 10, the network recorded 94 million stablecoin transfers in a single day, leading all major chains in stablecoin activity. That volume was supported by 5.2 million active stablecoin addresses and a total stablecoin supply of $3 billion on the network. Adjusted transaction volume hit $32.2 billion.
These aren't test transactions or MEV bot spam. Stablecoin transfers represent real economic activity: payroll, remittances, merchant settlements, and peer-to-peer payments. When a chain hits record stablecoin volume and then raises its throughput ceiling three days later, it suggests the capacity increase was driven by actual demand pressure rather than speculative roadmap positioning.
For context, Solana regularly reports higher peak TPS numbers, but Polygon's approach differs fundamentally. Rather than optimizing for maximum theoretical throughput, the Gigagas roadmap prioritizes incremental, production-tested increases that maintain sub-cent transaction fees. A transfer on Polygon PoS currently costs a fraction of a cent, and the 90M gas limit maintains that fee structure while expanding capacity.
The Gigagas Roadmap: From 1,000 to 100,000 TPS
Polygon Foundation CEO Sandeep Nailwal published the Gigagas roadmap in June 2025, setting a target of 100,000 TPS by early 2026. The plan unfolds in distinct phases:
Phase 1 (Bhilai, July 2025): Gas limit raised from 30M to 45M. First time breaking 1,000 TPS in production. Finality reduced from 60-90 seconds to approximately 5 seconds.
Phase 2 (Rio, Late 2025): Gas limit to 60M. Introduced stateless block verification, reducing validator hardware requirements. Redesigned block production architecture.
Phase 3 (Madhugiri, December 2025): Configurable blocktimes at the block producer level, sub-second precision. Future gas limit increases no longer require hardforks. EIP-7825 caps individual transactions at 32M gas to prevent block monopolization.
Phase 4 (VEBlop and Beyond): Validator-Elected Block Producer model eliminates chain reorganizations. Gas limit pushed past 80M, now 90M. The 100K TPS target requires further optimizations including deeper AggLayer integration for cross-chain liquidity.
At 2,100 TPS, Polygon is roughly 2% of the way to its 100K target. That sounds modest until you consider that each doubling of throughput requires exponentially more engineering effort around state management, consensus propagation, and fee market stability. The fact that the chain is executing these increases live, under record stablecoin load, without service interruptions, is the real benchmark.
What This Means for Crypto Card Users and Stablecoin Spenders
Higher throughput on Polygon directly benefits anyone using stablecoin-funded crypto cards for everyday spending. Several card providers in the ecosystem rely on Polygon as a settlement layer for USDC and USDT transactions, and faster block production means faster top-up confirmations and lower gas costs for on-chain card funding.
Bleap, which operates exclusively on Polygon for its account-abstraction card, benefits from the expanded capacity as its user base grows. The same applies to any self-custody card that settles on-chain before converting to fiat at the point of sale.
Polygon's $250 million investment in stablecoin payment infrastructure, announced in January 2026, underscores this direction. The acquisition of Coinme (regulated fiat on/off-ramps in 48 U.S. states) and Sequence (smart wallet infrastructure) is designed to close the gap between on-chain stablecoin rails and real-world merchant payments. Combined, these businesses have processed over $1 billion in off-chain sales and $2 trillion in on-chain value transfers.
The throughput upgrade and the payment infrastructure investment are two sides of the same coin: Polygon is positioning itself as the settlement layer for global stablecoin commerce, and it needs the raw capacity to handle that volume.
The Broader Race for Payment-Grade Throughput
Polygon's gas limit increase lands in an increasingly competitive landscape. Solana's payment-focused growth has been aggressive, with 750% transaction growth in 2025 and partnerships across the card ecosystem. Base, backed by Coinbase, has attracted Stripe's x402 payment protocol. And newer entrants like Monad are marketing sub-second finality as a baseline feature.
What differentiates Polygon's approach is the combination of battle-tested infrastructure and institutional credibility. The network already hosts major stablecoin deployments from Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT). It processes more stablecoin transfers than any other chain. And the Gigagas roadmap is delivering measurable progress on a public timeline rather than promising future capabilities.
The risk for Polygon is that 2,100 TPS, while impressive relative to its own history, still trails what newer chains claim in benchmarks. If the path from 2,100 to 100,000 TPS hits engineering bottlenecks, or if fee spikes emerge during demand surges (the network already hit an all-time high for daily fees recently), competitors with native high-throughput architectures could capture the payment use case first.
For now, though, the 90M gas limit represents tangible execution. Not a whitepaper promise, not a testnet demo, but a live production upgrade under real economic load.
FAQ
What is Polygon's current TPS? As of February 13, 2026, Polygon PoS is processing over 2,100 transactions per second following the block gas limit increase to 90 million.
What is the Gigagas roadmap? Gigagas is Polygon's multi-phase plan to scale network throughput to 100,000 TPS. It involves incremental gas limit increases, configurable blocktimes, stateless verification, and deeper AggLayer integration.
Does the gas limit increase affect transaction fees? No. Polygon PoS transactions remain sub-cent despite the higher throughput ceiling. The gas limit increase expands capacity without changing the fee structure.
How does this compare to Solana or Base? Solana reports higher peak TPS numbers, but Polygon leads in stablecoin transfer volume. Base is growing rapidly with Coinbase backing. Each chain targets different segments of the payment market.
Overview
Polygon PoS has raised its block gas limit to 90 million, enabling throughput of over 2,100 transactions per second, a 38% increase from the previous ceiling. This is the latest milestone in the Gigagas roadmap targeting 100,000 TPS. The upgrade required no hardfork thanks to configurable block parameters introduced in the Madhugiri upgrade. Combined with a record 94 million stablecoin transfers on February 10 and a $250 million investment in payment infrastructure, Polygon is executing a clear strategy to become the primary settlement layer for global stablecoin commerce.
Recommended Reading
- Solana Claims the Throne as Crypto's Top Payment Rail With 750% Growth
- Gate CEO Lin Han Says Banks Have Lost the 'Existential' War Against Stablecoins
- Zero Hash Integrates Monad, Bringing Regulated Stablecoin Payments to the Fastest EVM Chain
