Last night, the chain got congested again. I made a normal transfer, and it felt like taking a number and lining up at a bank… In the mempool, a batch of “pending” transactions piles up first. Miners/validators, put simply, just package whichever ones offer higher “service fees” first—if you pay lower service fees, your transaction can only be pushed back, and as it keeps getting pushed back, it might even expire. In the end, you don’t spend less on fees, and you also end up wasting time.

The point-task scheme during the airdrop season is even more extreme. After the anti-sybil update, everyone rushes in right on schedule, like clocking in for work, and congestion becomes even more common. I used to really like following those “teach you how to game gas to win speed” posts, but later I realized many of them are really just emotion-driven ways of setting the pace. I unfollowed them. Anyway, I’d rather go slower and set reasonable fees now—at least my records stay straight.