The median average transaction fee on Ethereum has risen to its highest level since May 2022 following increased on-chain activity. 

Fees on the Ethereum network jumped to around 87 gwei on May 2, according to a Dune analytics dashboard from Hildobby, a pseudonymous data researcher at VC firm Dragonfly. The increase was mostly down to memecoin trading, Hildobby told The Block. 

Ethereum median gas price (gwei), source: The Block Pro

Memecoins have enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance recently. The Pepe the Frog-themed token has seen particularly high interest. The token price soared over 266 times in just four days last month.

The memecoin's market cap soared to over $500 million this week before crashing below $400 million again. Many of these tokens lack liquidity, or market depth, meaning the ability for traders to buy and sell close to the market price is limited — leaving coins susceptible to sharp price swings. 

The token is largely traded on decentralized exchanges, encouraging more on-chain activity. Decentralized exchanges on Ethereum have attracted the highest level of users since 2021 due to the demand for memecoin trading. Ethereum-based DEXs saw over 72,000 unique traders on one day in April, according to data from The Block Pro. 

Users look for alternatives

Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible blockchains hit all-time highs last week due to high transaction fees.

Daily new unique addresses of EVM-compatible blockchains reached 6.77 million on April 25, according to The Block's Data Dashboard. The previous record was over two years ago when it reached 6.74 million. 

The EVM-compatible blockchains include BNB Chain, Polygon, and Avalanche. These chains tend to have lower transaction fees than Ethereum.