According to crypto analytics platform WhaleAlert, one trader had to pay up to 64 ETH worth approximately $119,121 at that time for a single transaction.
The high gas fee is not a new thing on Ethereum but it rarely happened since the transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) through The Merge. While it’s not like the gas fee will drop immediately after each upgrade, however, gas fees skyrocket like this is unusual for a PoS blockchain. The rationale is that a different transaction validation method can help in decongesting the network effectively. However, with the current high gas fees, the opposite appears to be the case.
The reason could be related to the hype of the meme coins that stirred intense network activity last weekend. This network activity peaked as Binance listed PEPE and FLOKI on its platform. The congestion, coupled with memecoins being manipulated by whales, could reduce the gains accrued by these memecoins, especially for individual traders.