ERC-404 Surge Sends Ethereum Gas Fees to Unseen 8-Month High

Gas fees on the Ethereum network soared to an eight-month high, reaching an average peak of 70 gwei on February 9th, with peak costs skyrocketing to 377 gwei – a level unseen since May 12, 2023.

The sudden surge in gas prices coincided with growing excitement surrounding the emergence of an experimental token standard known as ERC-404.

The ERC-404 frenzy ignited on February 5th when Pandora, a project spearheading the experimental standard, launched its platform. Since then, ERC-404 has witnessed an remarkable surge, hitting a 6,100% increase and accumulating over $474 million in trading volume.

According to PopPunk, co-founder of gas-auditing firm Gaslite, an ERC-404 transaction requires approximately three times the gas typically used for an average NFT transaction.

The surge in network activity on February 9th was largely fueled by heightened trading volumes on the decentralized exchange protocol Uniswap. A big portion of this activity can be attributed to the trading frenzy surrounding ERC-404 projects, including Pandora and DeFrogs, among others.

Collectively, these projects have amassed a staggering trading volume exceeding $600 million in the past week, as reported by Cointelegraph.