ETH: Gas Fees Continue to Hamstring DeFi Network: Sep 23, 2021
ETH: Gas Fees Continue to Hamstring DeFi Network
Despite major development and upgrades to its network recently with EIP-1559 and the release of smart-contract solution Arbitrum, Ethereum still seems to be struggling to handle network congestion and bloated gas fees, leaving many DeFi users struggling to keep up with the associated costs. With the recent comeback of NFT hype and the huge demand that moving NFT’s put on the network’s capabilities, ETH’s gas fees have gotten exceptionally burdensome: Since the London Hard Fork and EIP-1559, fees have risen to an average of over $30 per transaction. This number may seem manageable, but when accounting for the often inflated costs of using decentralized exchanges and NFT marketplaces, these gas fees can become wicked: Users of OpeanSea reported gas fees commonly topping $1,000 to process a transaction. The ETH network’s continuous struggle to handle the influx of attention its enjoyed has boiled over into other crypto ecosystems, with the likes of Solana seeing major upward movement and development in recent weeks. As ETH still dominates the DeFi universe, we’ll have to hold on tight and hope that future improvements to the network fix these continuous issues problems that have plagued it in the past.
September Blues: Rocky Roads Ahead?
September has historically been a bearish month in the world of crypto. Despite some upward market movement we saw earlier in the month, this September of 2021 seems to hold true to the pattern of the past. BTC tumbled 8.5% on Monday, along with other blue-chip coins dropping significantly in value before stabilizing later in the week. Much of the downward movement seen by markets across the world can be attributed to news of Chinese real estate group Evergrande revealing that it may default on its massive $300 billion of debt: The CCP announced Wednesday that they will be handling a major restructuring of Evergrande similar to how the single-party state handled the ongoing breakup of Jack Ma’s Ant Group earlier in the year. Although we’ve seen mainly sideways and downward movement throughout the middle of this month, let’s hope the crypto markets follow the patterns of years past and exceed our expectations as we head into the new year.
Polkadot Parachains Please!
The multi-blockchain and Web3 protocol Polkadot has been hinting at the upcoming release of parachains to its network recently. The implementation of parachains to its test network Kusama (KSM) were a huge success, with parachain apps such as Moonriver - A smart-contract Ethereum bridge - Seeing major success and upward spikes in value since launching. The first five parachains that launched on the Kusama test network saw 10% of the total supply of KSM being bonded, and more parachain slots opening on the test network are fueling the hype for Polkadot to adopt the flagship system that it has tirelessly been developing. DOT’s lead developer, Gavin Wood - Co-founder of Ethereum - Has been hinting in recent press released that the network will soon be launching parachains, and not a moment too soon: The competition for alternative ecosystems to Ethereum has become increasingly cut-throat, and Polkadot will need to exceed expectations to maintain its position as a leading DeFi network.