The Ethereum network is currently congested and has recorded transaction fees that resemble the current commissions in Bitcoin. So far, the highest fee recorded has been about $170.

According to Ethgaststation statistics, a total of 30,501 transactions have been recorded in the last 1500 processed blocks. When a block has no room to process a new transaction, it goes to the next block. But if it is also full, there is no guarantee that the transaction will be processed successfully.

On average, transaction fees were $16. Fluctuation in the commission estimate indicated that some transactions were paid in $50 commission. However, at the time of writing, the fees would appear to be $2 per transaction.

Faced with this, transactions with very small amounts can be buried by larger ones, as users are inclined to pay higher and higher amounts so that their transactions can be prioritized and processed quickly. This may be because many users began to use the Ethereum platform's ether, the cryptocurrency, as an alternative to bitcoin. Due to the high transaction fees that have been presented in this network the last few months after the release of the futures of CME Group and Cboe and an alleged spam attack that have congested the blockchain.

Similarly, a large number of applications have been created with Ethereum, which greatly increased its popularity. However, the network may not adequately support increased usage and now faces nearly full blocks in its entirety, realizing that replacing one blockchain with another when one system presents problems - in this case Bitcoin - is not a sustainable solution in the medium term in terms of scalability.

The price of the second most important cryptocurrency after bitcoin is currently at $1,320 according to CoinMarketCap, but congestion in its network poses a huge threat to its growth, as it is not the first time the Ethereum network has collapsed. This could be evidence that it is not properly prepared for the growth that has led over the past year, if only in December the network was 15% occupied by the escalation of viral CryptoKitties.

In recent days, a volume of 1.2 million transactions per day has been achieved, according to EtherScan. This increase in transactions led to the gas (the fuel needed to carry out operations) becoming worth $1, which caused the Bittrex exchange house (one of the largest currently in operation) to suspend the active deposits of the cryptocurrency until further notice.