YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — Gas fees are surging on the Ethereum (ETH) networks. Several users took to social media, expressing their shock at the exorbitant costs of transactions.
High-priority transaction fees on Ethereum reached an all-time high of $220. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin transaction fee touched the $10-mark. While this is relatively cheaper than Ethereum, it is still a noteworthy increase from the average fee of $1 observed in the preceding three months.
Charts from Dune Analytics show median gas fees on the Ethereum network crossed the 300 gwei mark.
For the uninitiated, a gas fee is the cost associated with performing transactions or carrying out contracts on the Ethereum network. It serves as compensation to the network validators for the computational power utilized in processing these actions. Referred to as gwei, these fees represent tiny fractions of Ether (ETH).
Before the recent spike, average transactions on the Ethereum network fetched less than $12. Moreover, last month, it went as low as $1.40, according to BitInfoCharts.
The sudden surge comes after revelations BlackRock has applied with the SEC for an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that includes Ether (ETH).
The development comes months after BlackRock filed a similar application for a spot Bitcoin ETF.
Other networks shine amind Ethereum Gas fees problems
Exorbitant high fees on the network have once again highlighted the scalability problem of Ethereum and Bitcoin networks.
It has also re-ignited the debate about the feasibility of users to keep their assets on the ETH network. If small transactions come at such high costs, many users would find themselves unable or unwilling to pay the high gas fees.
In this regard, other networks present more attractive options. With their low fees and quick processing time, many feel these provide the option they need to migrate.
These include the BNB Chain, Solana (SOL), and PulseChain (PLS), among others.
One PulseChain user even predicted that such high gas fees would prompt many users to migrate from Ethereum.
Meanwhile, one user pointed out that fees on the Solana for all transactions in a minute are less than per transaction on ETH.
“Lol. SOL charged only 1.2 Sol ($55-$60) per min in TOTAL fees for the ENTIRE SOYLANA PLANET while the median gas fee on ETH spiked to 160+ gwei, charging each poor Ethereum user US$60 fees PER transaction,”
he wrote.
Some have pointed out that migrating to Layer 2 (L2) options of these networks could be a solution. For example, Lightning Network (LN) is a “layer 2” payment protocol built on the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain.
Similarly, Ethereum also has a few layer 2 solutions, such as Polygon (MATIC), Arbitrum (ARB), and Optimism (OP).
