Polygon gas charges increase 1000% amidst Ordinals-inspired token fad

Gas charges on Ethereum layer-2 Polygon (MATIC) rose more than 1,000% to reach a peak of $0.10 as users flooded the network with the minting of Ordinals-inspired tokens called POLS.

In a Nov. 16 X (previously Twitter) post Polygon creator Sandeep Nailwal shared his surprise at the raised deal activity on the network stating the spike might’ve been because of the launch of a brand-new Polygon-based nonfungible token (NFT) collection.

What is going on on @ 0xPolygon POS chain? 6m deals in last 24 hrs. 170 TPS usually. 1mn+ MATIC burnt by the procedure. The chain worked efficiently, gas charges went bananas though however no reorgs or 0 blocks and so on

I hear there is some video game Infant Shark Introducing, might that be the …

— Sandeep Nailwal|sandeep. polygon (@sandeepnailwal) November 16, 2023

The factor for the uptick in network activity and abrupt spike in gas charges appears to be coming primarily from a craze of interest for minting the brand-new POLS token.

Dune Analytics information revealed the rush of minting activity for POLS accompanied more than 102 million MATIC tokens– worth $86 million at existing costs– being utilized as gas.

The POLS token is constructed on a procedure called PRC-20, which runs likewise to the Bitcoin Ordinals-derived BRC-20 token requirement.

According to information from Ethereum Virtual Maker information service provider EVM, just 8.7% of the overall POLS supply has actually been minted, with simply over 18,100 owners declaring the token.

Related: Bitcoin Ordinals see revival from Binance listing

At the time of publication, Polygon gas charges have actually considering that gone back to normal levels, settling at around 882 gwei. Gas charges measure the quantity of calculating effort required to perform a deal on an offered blockchain, with 1 gwei equivalent to roughly 0.000000001 MATIC.

The Bitcoin network saw a comparable, albeit more extended, spike in activity in May this year following the release of the Ordinals procedure, which permitted users to mint NFTs straight onto the Bitcoin blockchain.

The taking place craze for Ordinals NFTs and BRC-20 tokens saw Bitcoin charges reach levels not considering that April 2021, an advancement that saw more traditionally-minded Bitcoiners such as Samson Mow and Adam Back cast down the NFT procedure and token requirement as inefficient.

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