The recent NFT craze has made Ethereum Gas fees skyrocket to a 14-week high. Now, according to Bitinfocharts, the average transaction fee was $38.3o on August 27, the price has since settled slightly. This is the highest Ethereum Gas Price rate since the all-time high of $69.22 on May 12. The rate has climbed in parallel with the recent demand for NFTs. Sales in the past 30 days have been over $900 million, according to NonFungible.
What These High Gas Fees Mean for Ethereum Users
Unless the NFT market cools down, Ethereum gas fees could stay as high as they currently are, if not higher. These high fees make it unreasonable for certain users with a lower budget to be involved as much as they want to be in the NFT industry. Specific projects on the Ethereum blockchain, like Stoner Cats, have caused the gas fees to drastically increase immediately. This fact could automatically turn off new users looking to get into NFT’s, either making them go onto another chain or not get into the space at all. Fortunately, there are alternatives to Ethereum that could be an option for new investors. Plus, Ethereum’s plans to move to Ethereum 2.0 could revolutionise everything.
Alternatives to the Ethereum Blockchain
There are several alternatives to the Ethereum main blockchain. There are layer 2 Ethereum chains, including Polygon, Immutable and BSC. In addition to these, other blockchains have been gaining traction including WAX, tezos, and more recently, Cardano . Their unique selling points in comparison to Ethereum are the lower gas fees and faster transaction speeds. The issue with these chains is that the mainstream NFTs are still on Ethereum. If big NFT projects start releasing on these chains, perhaps they could be a genuine competitor to the Ethereum network.
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This article is educational material.
As always, make your own research prior to making any kind of investment.
