Bitcoin experienced a surge above $35,000, leading to a general recovery in the cryptocurrency market. Following this, investors turned their attention to altcoins such as Pepe (PEPE), Dejitaru Tsuka (TSUKA), Bone ShibaSwap (BONE), Doge Killer (LEASH), HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu (BITCOIN), SPX6900 (SPX), which have a strong social attraction power rather than their technologies. This shift in investor focus towards popular memecoins built on the Ethereum (ETH) network indicates a change in risk perception. As a result, gas fees on the Ethereum network have skyrocketed.
Ethereum Gas Fee Soars from 9 Gwei to 45 Gwei
Investor interest in memecoins has caused the gas fee or transaction fee on the Ethereum network to increase from 9 gwei to 45 gwei. Gwei is a small unit of Ether (ETH) that is equivalent to one billionth of an ETH.
Gas refers to the transaction fee that Ethereum users pay to ensure that their transactions are included in the earliest block by network validators. This incentivizes validators to include transactions with the highest fees in the Blockchain. Consequently, the transaction fees for major altcoins can reach hundreds of dollars.
The Memecoin Craze Returns
Popular memecoins such as PEPE, TSUKA, BONE, and LEASH have shown signs of trading frenzy, with gains of up to 40% in the past 24 hours. HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu, traded under the symbol BITCOIN, has seen a 39% increase, while SPX has risen by up to 25%.
Although HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu and SPX6900 mimic the names of Bitcoin and the US stock index S&P500, respectively, their market capitalization of over $120 million reflects the strong attraction power of memecoins in the cryptocurrency market.
The speculative frenzy in memecoins is driven by the expectation of the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the US, which has led to a sharp increase in major cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH.