#ETHvsBTC Ethereum, Bitcoin users reignite scalability debate as gas fees surge
Ethereum gas fees reportedly breached the $200-mark for certain high-priority transactions in the last 24 hours.
A recent spike in transaction fees on Ethereum and Bitcoin appears to have reignited the debate around solutions for scalability and the role of layer 2s.
Over the last 24 hours, cryptocurrency users began sharing screenshots showing double, occasionally triple-digit transaction fees on Ethereum and Bitcoin.
One screenshot showed gas fees were as high as $220 for a high-priority transaction on Ethereum while other screenshots showed figures around the $100 mark.
Bitcoin users meanwhile, reported fees that were around $10 for high-priority transactions. While this is relatively low, the average Bitcoin (BTC) transaction cost has hovered around $1 over the last three months, according to BitInfoCharts. BTC fees haven’t been this high since May.
At the time of writing, a transaction from an Ethereum hot wallet comes with a network cost of $45.65 for a $300 transfer on decentralized exchange Uniswap, according to a test transaction conducted by Cointelegraph.
The rise in gas fees have prompted proponents of Solana and other blockchains to flaunt how much cheaper transactions are on those respective chains.
One X (formerly Twitter) user, “Bobby Apelrod” noted that Solana only charges $55-60 per minute for all Solana users, while each “poor Ethereum user” had to pay that much for a single transaction.
“Currently, #PulseChain gas fees are 4'000X cheaper than Ethereum and 14'000X cheaper than Bitcoin,” said “KaisaCrypto.”
The price of network fees is dynamic and is a product of demand or how congested the network is. An increase in on-chain activity often occurs in bull markets or when market sentiment is strong, but an added side effect is the impact on lower income users.
“How does this help the unbanked and lower income population,” Lopez iterated in a post which showed a “high priority” Bitcoin transaction fee of $10.50 on Nov. 9.
