I stared at the mempool for half an hour—it really was lively. Gas fees suddenly shot up, and all kinds of transactions lined up, waiting to be packaged. Then the validators (or block producers) pick and choose—your transaction is either selected into a block, or gets stuck in the pool, waiting for the next round. Honestly, at times like this, if you don’t add enough of a tip, you’re basically just working for the packagers. They love the kind of front-running trades—it's like watching a market scene where market aunties rush to grab discounted deals.

Anyway, over the past couple of days, expectations for rate cuts have heated up again. The U.S. dollar index and risk assets rise and fall together, and on-chain sentiment swings along with it. But nobody in the mempool cares about macro—they only care who bids the highest and who gets there first. In an environment like this, short-term traders really need to keep a close eye on things, or your orders might end up crushed into the pavement by someone else. Bottom line, I’m increasingly convinced that on-chain is just like real life—it doesn’t care what your viewpoint is; it only cares how much you’re paying in fees. I’m used to it, anyway. Drink tea and watch the show.