On December 18, the Avalanche network experienced a surge in its average gas fee, reaching an unprecedented 5,110.30 nAVAX, or about $4.41, according to Avascan data.
This substantial increase is attributed to a unique event caused by the founder of the decentralized trading platform Trader Joe, known as @cryptofishx on social media, who introduced an ASC-20 standard inscription called Avascription, with the nickname “BEEG.”
BEEG, initially introduced as a social experiment without a practical use or a clear roadmap, has experienced a remarkable rise in adoption. Within 2 hours and 15 minutes of its release, 37% of BEEG was minted, getting attention from approximately 4,300 holders.
The increase in activity caused congestion on the Avalanche network, leading to an apology from @cryptofishx and initiating discussions to address the emerging challenges.
This development is part of a larger trend affecting several Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains. Data from Dune Analytics indicated that gas spent on inscriptions across these chains soared to a record high of $8.3 million on December 16.
The Avalanche network was the most affected, with over $5.6 million spent on that day alone, followed by Aribitrum One, which saw $2.1 million in gas fees for inscriptions.
In the past 24 hours, 58% of network gas fees on Avalanche and 48% on zkSync Era’s network were allocated to EVM inscriptions. The BNB Chain, too, saw a significant portion of its transactions (73%) devoted to inscriptions.
The situation reached a critical point on the Arbitrum One network, resulting in a 78-minute outage on December 15, demonstrating the strain these activities can impose on network infrastructures.
Like Ordinals on the Bitcoin network, EVM inscriptions are unique digital collectibles embedded directly into transactions. They have gained traction, as evidenced by the recent surge in Bitcoin network inscriptions.
Over the weekend, this surge in popularity increased block space demand and transaction fees, leading to nearly 280,000 unconfirmed transactions on the Bitcoin network, according to data from mempool.space.
The rising fees, which have reached $37 on the Bitcoin network, have made it challenging for users to conduct small transactions.
Adam Back, a prominent figure in the Bitcoin community, commented that despite the high fees, Ordinals and similar innovations are unstoppable and encourage the adoption of second-layer solutions and further innovation in the space.