Massive $859,000 Spent in Fees by This Leading ETH Gas Consumer

In a recent analysis, crypto research firm Kaiko reported an unusual event on the Ethereum (ETH) network, where a staggering $859,000 was spent on gas fees in a short timeframe.

Kaiko noted that one of Binance’s hot wallets temporarily became the largest consumer of gas on the network. This substantial expenditure was attributed to the exchange’s routine consolidation of ETH balances.

The considerable gas cost was incurred by a specific Binance address within just one hour, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on September 21. This surge in transactions led to a notable spike in Ethereum gas prices, which rose from a minimum of 6 gwei (approximately $0.17) to a peak of 332 gwei (over $11) for some transactions.

Binance clarified that the high gas fees were a consequence of their standard process of consolidating ETH into one of its wallets. Fortunately, the elevated gas prices were only temporary, and reports indicated that ETH gas fees subsequently hit yearly lows. As of the weekend, Ethereum’s average fees dropped to $1.15, marking the lowest level since December 26, 2022.

### ETH Trade Volumes Remain Weak

Trade volumes for ETH have been relatively unimpressive over the past year, largely due to the cryptocurrency struggling to break through the $2,100 pricepoint. As market conditions improved in January, alternative coins began to outshine ETH, with the disparity widening over time.

Additionally, Kaiko highlighted that a year ago, the ETH to BTC ratio was just below 0.08 following a surge in ETH value in anticipation of the Ethereum Merge update. However, this ratio has been on a steady decline since then.

At the time of writing, ETH had seen a slight increase of 0.89% over the last 24 hours, trading at $1,586.