Ethereum User Paid $520K In Transaction Fees To Mint Tubby Cat NFTs

On-chain data revealed that an unidentified user on the Ethereum ETH/USD network just spent more than 204 ETH — worth approximately $520,000 — in transaction fees to mint NFTs.

What Happened: According to the transaction details seen on blockchain explorer Etherscan, the wallet address minted 950 Tubby Cat NFTs for a cost of 100 ETH worth $258,000 at the time. The user spent more than double that amount on the transaction fees alone.

Data from OpenSea shows that the Tubby Cat NFT collection has a floor price of just 0.54 ETH making it considerably harder for the user to break even or profit from selling the collection.

Why It Matters: Although average gas fees on the Ethereum network have been at their lowest level in more than five months, certain transactions are subject to astronomical fees.

The gas price for transactions differs based on factors such as the type of transaction, how busy the network is at a certain time of day and the speed at which the user would like to have the transaction completed.

This isn’t the first time that the gas fees have outweighed the value of the transaction itself. In September 2021, Benzinga reported that crypto exchange Bitfinex paid $23.6 million in transaction fees to send just $100,000 worth of Tether USDT/USD across the blockchain.

ETH Price Action: At press time, ETH was trading at $2,595.17, down 1.56% at publication Thursday afternoon.

Photo by Eduard Delputte on Unsplash