The last 24-36 hours have been anything but fun for Ethereum users. The network suffers from a significant transaction backlog. This congestion is partly caused by yesterday's ICO Status, although it is unclear if other factors are also at play. Unfortunately, two exchanges have been forced to deactivate Ethereum wallets. This is a big problem for Ethereum, because it shows the immaturity of this technology.
It's never a good sign when cryptocurrency exchanges have to deactivate Ethereum wallets. This means that users cannot deposit or withdraw ETH at this time. The problem affects both Bittrex and Liqui, although other exchanges may follow. Network congestion is a phenomenon we see often in the Bitcoin world. For Ethereum, this has never been a big problem. Again, the network has never been under the same stress as Bitcoin.
The Ethereum network is collapsing under its own success
Earlier today, over 14,000 Ethereum transactions were pending. This is an alarming number for Ethereum to say the least. At the time of writing this article, that number has fallen to 11,000. which remains quite high. For a network that generates blocks much faster than Bitcoin, such a delay should not be possible. Unfortunately, this shows how immature the Ethereum protocol is when it comes to scaling. We can only hope that this issue is resolved fairly quickly.
It is completely normal that some people are not very happy with this situation at the moment. We have seen Bitcoin congestion on several occasions. In fact, it has become an almost regular occurrence. Ethereum has, on paper, superior technology to cope with high demand. Unfortunately, this technology is still very insufficient. It's sad to see things develop like this. Fortunately, Bittrex has resumed ETH transactions, although users may still experience delays.
Looking at the bigger picture, it is obvious that Ethereum will also need a scaling solution. Although this is a rather unusual situation, it is possible that this will happen again and again. People trying to queue for a ICO and include massive fees for minors were the cause of this huge backlog. Then again, one would expect the Ethereum network to handle these things easily. It will be interesting to see if this “bad news” will affect the price of ETH.
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