The Ethereum ecosystem is maturing in front of our eyes. Whereas most people focus on the technological side of things such as smart contracts, the number of transactions performed within a 24 hour period is also on the rise. The Ethereum network processed half a million transactions within 24 hours, which is officially a new record for this ecosystem.
A new Transaction Processing Record for Ethereum
With more transactions taking place on the Ethereum network than ever before, the ecosystem is growing by leaps and bounds. Although it is a bit unclear how people are using Ether these days, it is safe to assume most of the transactions relate to mining, exchanges, and cryptocurrency ICO investments. There is also a growing number of Dapps to take into account, though, all of which will use Ethereum as their main currency as well. It is good to see the number of transactions within a 24-hour period going up as well.
The Ethereum network has officially set a new transaction volume record. With half a million transfers processed without any noticeable hitches, the network is finally hitting its stride. Some improvements to scale the network even more effectively will be coming in the form of both parts of the Metropolis hard fork. When those developments go live, we may see the network handle one million or more transactions per day without breaking a sweat.
This new milestone for the Ethereum network should not be overlooked. Not only did the number of transactions go up by quite a bit, the average network fee has not changed at all. The vast majority of transactions were completed with a fee of US$0.70 or lower. There are always some exceptions in this regard, but it shows the blockchain can handle a large transaction volume without effectively driving up the price. That does not mean some Ethereum wallets are not overcharging users in terms of gas prices.
Compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum is starting to look like a very appealing alternative in terms of moving funds to different platforms. Bitcoin itself used to have very low fees all the time, but several issues on the network throughout the years highlighted how these costs can become inflated quickly. Thankfully, these issues are seemingly a thing of the past, as the Bitcoin mempool has been virtually empty for some time now. The minimum transaction fee will still allow transactions to be confirmed within a reasonable timeframe, which is all anyone can ask for. Some competition between the various networks in terms of TX fees is never a bad thing.
While the Ethereum network still provides additional capacity waiting to be filled, there is only so much the blockchain can do in its current state. Scaling solutions are being deployed in the near future, but it remains to be seen if they can get rid of the “ceiling” looming over the network in its current form. With the first part of the Metropolis hard fork going into effect in a few weeks’ time, most of those concerns will be relieved shortly. The delay of the mining difficulty bomb solution will also have an impact on the network’s throughput.
We now have the Raiden protocol undergoing a thorough analysis on the Ethereum testnet. This scaling solution is somewhat similar to Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and will improve Ethereum’s scalability as well. It is evident all major blockchains are preparing for an influx of additional transactions. Given the recent price momentum of both Bitcoin and Ethereum, that is not surprising in the least. Now is the best time to introduce enhanced scaling capabilities, and Ethereum is certainly heading in the right direction.
