Polygon Priority Fee Payout — What Does the February 28, 2026 Data Show?
Based on the payout data from February 28, 2026 (Nonce 10, TX: 0x20c982c83dab08217296010b6510ba44b28e2f6ddec869bcae68663062aba72f), the distribution of priority fees across the validator set is clearly concentrated.
Key Facts
- 103 validators received a payout
- Total distributed: 5,994,031 POL
- Of all stake in this set, 99.66% is delegated and 0.34% is self-stake
Concentration
The share captured by the top is significant:
- The top 5 validators received 2,534,031 POL — 42.3% of the total payout
- The top 10 validators received 3,854,786 POL — 64.3% of the total
- The top 20 validators received 5,389,278 POL — 89.9% of all priority fees distributed
The Other Side
On the other end of the spectrum:
- 66 out of 103 validators are marked as LOSS (fee payout below estimated infrastructure cost)
- Only 37 validators are marked as OK
- The median payout is 3,636 POL
- The average is much higher at 58,194 POL, showing that a small top group pulls the total significantly upward
Distribution Breakdown
- 26 validators received less than 1,000 POL
- 15 validators received less than 500 POL
- 2 validators received less than 100 POL
Largest Recipients
| # | Validator | Payout (POL) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upbit Staking | 717,325 |
| 2 | Coinbase | 616,490 |
| 3 | Binance Node | 475,834 |
| 4 | Luganodes | 408,728 |
| 5 | Anonymous 93 | 315,654 |
What This Payout Shows
The current priority fee distribution is not spread broadly across validators. A large share goes to a relatively small top layer.
This makes a monthly measurement useful as a baseline:
- How much goes to the top 5 / top 10 / top 20
- How much is left for the rest
- How many validators operate at a loss based on payout data
- Whether this concentration changes over time
Methodology
Priority fee payouts are on-chain verifiable from the multisig transaction. The LOSS/OK classification uses PIP-65’s infrastructure cost estimate of 8,523 POL/month ($929 at $0.109 price at payout), based on Jerry Chen’s (Polygon Labs) GCP cost analysis for post-VEBloP validator hardware. Actual validator costs vary by provider and configuration.
Full validator payout spreadsheet available upon request.
Author: Just Hopmans (@HopmansJust) — see also: PIP: Priority Fee Sharing for Delegators