Unraveling Ethereum's Mempool: The Impact of Fee Fairness, Transaction Prioritization, and Consensus Efficiency

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Main Authors: Hossain, S M Mostaq, Altarawneh, Amani
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Hossain, S M Mostaq
Altarawneh, Amani
author_facet Hossain, S M Mostaq
Altarawneh, Amani
contents Ethereum's transaction pool (mempool) dynamics and fee market efficiency critically affect transaction inclusion, validator workload, and overall network performance. This research empirically analyzes gas price variations, mempool clearance rates, and block finalization times in Ethereum's proof-of-stake ecosystem using real-time data from Geth and Prysm nodes. We observe that high-fee transactions are consistently prioritized, while low-fee transactions face delays or exclusion despite EIP-1559's intended improvements. Mempool congestion remains a key factor in validator efficiency and proposal latency. We provide empirical evidence of persistent fee-based disparities and show that extremely high fees do not always guarantee faster confirmation, revealing inefficiencies in the current fee market. To address these issues, we propose congestion-aware fee adjustments, reserved block slots for low-fee transactions, and improved handling of out-of-gas vulnerabilities. By mitigating prioritization bias and execution inefficiencies, our findings support more equitable transaction inclusion, enhance validator performance, and promote scalability. This work contributes to Ethereum's long-term decentralization by reducing dependence on high transaction fees for network participation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_07988
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Unraveling Ethereum's Mempool: The Impact of Fee Fairness, Transaction Prioritization, and Consensus Efficiency
Hossain, S M Mostaq
Altarawneh, Amani
Cryptography and Security
Ethereum's transaction pool (mempool) dynamics and fee market efficiency critically affect transaction inclusion, validator workload, and overall network performance. This research empirically analyzes gas price variations, mempool clearance rates, and block finalization times in Ethereum's proof-of-stake ecosystem using real-time data from Geth and Prysm nodes. We observe that high-fee transactions are consistently prioritized, while low-fee transactions face delays or exclusion despite EIP-1559's intended improvements. Mempool congestion remains a key factor in validator efficiency and proposal latency. We provide empirical evidence of persistent fee-based disparities and show that extremely high fees do not always guarantee faster confirmation, revealing inefficiencies in the current fee market. To address these issues, we propose congestion-aware fee adjustments, reserved block slots for low-fee transactions, and improved handling of out-of-gas vulnerabilities. By mitigating prioritization bias and execution inefficiencies, our findings support more equitable transaction inclusion, enhance validator performance, and promote scalability. This work contributes to Ethereum's long-term decentralization by reducing dependence on high transaction fees for network participation.
title Unraveling Ethereum's Mempool: The Impact of Fee Fairness, Transaction Prioritization, and Consensus Efficiency
topic Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.07988