On August 1, the Ethereum’s blockchain faced a spike in network transaction fees, causing a backlog in transfers across several exchanges. Coinbase and Binance, two of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, saw hundreds of transactions jammed, leading to trading delays. In a blog post by Coinbase, during the fees peak, at 11 pm PST, a total of 559 transactions, deposits, and withdrawals were delayed.
The post reads:
“Starting at 9:45 pm PST, 559 transactions were delayed. The backlog of transactions started clearing 15 minutes after the peak of the fee spike and was fully processed in 110 minutes.”
What Caused the Network Clog?
On the Ethereum blockchain, all transactions are charged a fee that is paid to miners that verify and confirm transactions. This network fee is determined by the variable demand for fixed processing capacity whereby when there is a significant demand, fees will rise and fall when demand is low.
The clog started at about 9.45 pm PST, causing a delay across the ETH and ERC20 tokens with the average delay spiking at 11:30 pm PST at 105 minutes.
Trading remained stable through the clogging moment, with only deposits and withdrawals affected. As of now, Ethereum Classic remains in the status of ‘degraded performance’ on Coinbase.