Last night, the on-chain network was a bit congested. I stared at a swap for a long time without it moving, and then I remembered that the mempool is really just a queuing system: transactions get tossed into the pool first, waiting for miners/validators to pick them out. The higher the tip you attach, and the more “profitable” your move is, the more likely your transaction is to get “picked off” and swept up. You think clicking confirm is the end of it, but in reality, it may go through this whole sequence: stuck and not included → front-ran by similar transactions jumping the line → and finally either it succeeds but with worse slippage, or it simply expires and fails, wasting gas anyway. It’s like queuing at the subway entrance—or like snatching orders on a food delivery platform. Pretty realistic.

Lately, everyone’s been watching staking unlocks and token unlock calendars, and that kind of sell-pressure anxiety kicks in, and when the network is congested it’s even easier to get flustered and scramble to chase prices. These days, I basically have two moves: I’d rather move slowly and set a clear deadline/slippage, and if it’s really urgent, add a little extra tip—but I don’t make things harder for myself. After all, the chain doesn’t owe you an “instant fill.”