In the morning, I habitually checked the large on-chain transfers first, and casually looked at the mempool. The queue was a bit exaggerated… To put it simply, your transaction is like taking a number; it waits in the pool for miners/validators to “pick up,” and those offering higher tips or who are more urgent usually get processed first. During congestion, it might get stuck, pushed to the back, or even fail if the set time expires, and the gas fee might not even be enough to get it back, which is quite annoying.

Airdrop season has become even more obvious lately, with task platforms using anti-witchcraft measures and a points system, making everyone compete like clocking in at work, which naturally causes more on-chain congestion. What I don’t regret is… during congestion, I prefer slower confirmations rather than panicking and blindly increasing fees, chasing after quick confirmation. Anyway, I’ll just have breakfast first.