A 2019 blog post explaining Stellar's Surge Pricing mechanism during a period of high network congestion. The post clarifies that the network is functioning as designed, describes how fees work during peak activity, and outlines SDF's scaling efforts.
This article addresses network congestion on Stellar in 2019, explaining that increased transaction volume—particularly from arbitrage bots—is normal and the network is working as intended. It details how Surge Pricing works: when more than 50 transactions are submitted per ledger, the network prioritizes those offering the highest fees per operation. The post clarifies that Stellar supports up to 1,000 operations per second through transaction batching, discusses why failed transactions still consume ledger space and fees, and explains the trade-offs validators must balance between performance, decentralization, and inclusiveness. It also outlines SDF's scaling initiatives, including stellar-core performance improvements and Horizon enhancements for fee statistics and dynamic fee strategies.
