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Understand Waiting Time in Transaction Fee Mechanism: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

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  • Luyao Zhang
  • Fan Zhang

Abstract

Blockchain enables peer-to-peer transactions in cyberspace without a trusted third party. The rapid growth of Ethereum and smart contract blockchains generally calls for well-designed Transaction Fee Mechanisms (TFMs) to allocate limited storage and computation resources. However, existing research on TFMs must consider the waiting time for transactions, which is essential for computer security and economic efficiency. Integrating data from the Ethereum blockchain and memory pool (mempool), we explore how two types of events affect transaction latency. First, we apply regression discontinuity design (RDD) to study the causal inference of the Merge, the most recent significant upgrade of Ethereum. Our results show that the Merge significantly reduces the long waiting time, network loads, and market congestion. In addition, we verify our results' robustness by inspecting other compounding factors, such as censorship and unobserved delays of transactions via private changes. Second, examining three major protocol changes during the merge, we identify block interval shortening as the most plausible cause for our empirical results. Furthermore, in a mathematical model, we show block interval as a unique mechanism design choice for EIP1559 TFM to achieve better security and efficiency, generally applicable to the market congestion caused by demand surges. Finally, we apply time series analysis to research the interaction of Non-Fungible token (NFT) drops and market congestion using Facebook Prophet, an open-source algorithm for generating time-series models. Our study identified NFT drops as a unique source of market congestion -- holiday effects -- beyond trend and season effects. Finally, we envision three future research directions of TFM.

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  • Luyao Zhang & Fan Zhang, 2023. "Understand Waiting Time in Transaction Fee Mechanism: An Interdisciplinary Perspective," Papers 2305.02552, arXiv.org.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2305.02552
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Yu, Haoyang & Sun, Yutong & Liu, Yulin & Zhang, Luyao, 2023. "Bitcoin Gold, Litecoin Silver: An Introduction to Cryptocurrency’s Valuation and Trading Strategy," OSF Preprints t2fku, Center for Open Science.
    2. Yihang Fu & Mingwei Jing & Jiaolun Zhou & Peilin Wu & Ye Wang & Luyao Zhang & Chuang Hu, 2024. "Quantifying the Blockchain Trilemma: A Comparative Analysis of Algorand, Ethereum 2.0, and Beyond," Papers 2407.14335, arXiv.org.
    3. Zhang, Luyao & Sun, Yutong & Quan, Yutong & Cao, Jiaxun & Tong, Xin, 2023. "On the Mechanics of NFT Valuation: AI Ethics and Social Media," OSF Preprints qwpdx, Center for Open Science.
    4. Yutong Quan & Xintong Wu & Wanlin Deng & Luyao Zhang, 2023. "Decoding Social Sentiment in DAO: A Comparative Analysis of Blockchain Governance Communities," Papers 2311.14676, arXiv.org, revised May 2024.
    5. Zhang, Luyao, 2023. "Machine Learning for Blockchain: Literature Review and Open Research Questions," OSF Preprints g2q5t, Center for Open Science.
    6. Quan, Yutong & Wu, Xintong & Deng, Wanlin & Zhang, Luyao, 2023. "Decoding Social Sentiment in DAO: A Comparative Analysis of Blockchain Governance Communities," OSF Preprints bq6tu, Center for Open Science.
    7. Yunpeng Xiao & Bufan Deng & Siqi Chen & Kyrie Zhixuan Zhou & Ray LC & Luyao Zhang & Xin Tong, 2023. ""Centralized or Decentralized?": Concerns and Value Judgments of Stakeholders in the Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Market," Papers 2311.10990, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.

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