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Out of Control ETH Fees Return to All-Time High

3 mins
Updated by Ryan Smith
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In Brief

  • The average Ethereum transactions now costs over $13
  • Critics say this undermines the usability of blockchains
  • ETH proponents point out solutions and promise upgrades in ETH 2.0
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With the rise of the decentralized web came a rise in Ethereum traffic. September 1, 2020, broke a new record with the average transaction cost topping $13.
Reports of long wait times and astronomical Uniswap fees are pushing the crypto community to its breaking point.
all time high eth fees chart
Ether fees jumped to an all time high on September 1 | Source: Y-Charts

Cheaper to Hire Fedex Than Use ETH

Saving on gas left some users waiting 12 hours or more for their transactions to go through. In the fast-paced world of Uniswap and speculation, that’s a long time. Some Reddit users have pointed out that high ETH fees contradict the purpose of fast, trustless transactions. With wait times like these, some have argued, it would be faster and cheaper to send a check with overnight shipping. One reddit user posted a ghastly screenshot on the r/Nexo subreddit. This image shows a transaction of 504 Nexo (NEXO) tokens (about $80 at the time) with a fee of 184 Nexo tokens (about $30) at the time. Reddit user Ed_Atts offered an explanation. With the high price of ETH and liquidity pool arbitrage opportunities,
Ethereum’s chain is just f*cked at the moment.
High fees for nexo
A $30 fee for an $80 transaction on a Decentralized Exchange | Source: Reddit

Vitalik Weighs In

Finally, Ethereum’s founder Vitalik Buterin offered an opinion. For weeks, gas fees have been a point of contention for users. On September 1, Vitalik defended ETH, pointing out that other solutions exist. One solution was Loopring, an ETH-based decentralized exchange. Loopring has microscopic fees compared to Uniswap. However, users need to send ETH to their Loopring wallet to begin with. The number of coins traded on Loopring is also minuscule compared to other DEXs. Another idea Buterin had was the OMG network. When Ethereum broke a previous all-time high record on August 22, Tether (USDT) announced that it would be available on the OMG network. Tether accounts for the second most Ethereum chain transactions, after Ether itself. The OMG network can process thousands more transactions at a fraction of the cost, and it does so layered over the existing Ethereum network.  
Users responds to Vitalik Buterin’s Tweet about adoption solutions | Source: Reddit
Over the following 24 hours, Buterin wrote several Twitter posts about the future of Ethereum. The much touted ETH 2.0 would introduce proof of work and sharding, which would allow for more simultaneous transactions, thus reducing gas fees. He pointed out that an army of Ethereum engineers are working tirelessly to scale Ethereum.

Outgrown Its Shoes

Unfortunately, the existing solutions have not caught on yet. Some of this may be the DeFi craze caused by Uniswap, an exchange which only functions on the Ethereum blockchain. The demand for the capabilities of DeFi, yield farming, and DEXs has simply outgrown Ethereum in its current state.
24 Hour JustSwap Volume Reaches $150 million | Source: justwap.io
As fees have risen, others have tried to take some of Ethereum’s traffic. Tron offers a decentralized exchange called JustSwap, which has reached $150 million in daily transactions in the first two weeks. At the same time, Tron-based Tether did not apparently catch on. In fact, It lost $1 billion USDT in a chain swap. Meanwhile, Binance is waiting in the wings. An August 25 blog post makes the case for Binance Chain to become the king of DeFi. The giant exchange is suffering issues related to Ethereum traffic congestion. Solutions are out there ready for adoption, and engineers are working on efficiency. Nevertheless, the Uniswap speculators are growing impatient.
Top crypto platforms in the US | March 2024

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Harry Leeds
Harry Leeds is a writer, editor, and journalist who spent much time in the former USSR covering food, cryptocurrencies, and healthcare. He also translates poetry and edits the literary magazine mumbermag.me.
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