The bullish sentiment prevalent in the cryptocurrency market is having a significant impact on almost all digital assets. Lesser-known cryptocurrencies such as OKT, the native token of the layer-1 blockchain network OKT Chain (OKTC), have surged 80% in the past 24 hours.
The price of OKT rose from $14.7 to a nine-month high of $30, according to data from BeInCrypto. However, its value has recovered to $25 as of press time.
Why has OKT price soared?
The notable surge in OKT price can be attributed to the increased interest resulting from the first imprint issuance event held on the OKT chain.
Inscriptions in layer 1 blockchain networks, such as the OKT chain, work by storing metadata within the call data of blockchain transactions. These inscriptions are similar to Bitcoin ordinals in that they essentially create non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on smart contracts.
Transactions on the OKT chain surged more than 18,000% over the past week, reaching 7.2 million on December 8, according to on-chain data.
However, the increase in network activity has also led to severe network congestion on lesser-known blockchain networks. As of press time, there are approximately 100,000 pending transactions. OKX Web3 wallet was also shut down due to increased traffic on OKT Chain.
Moreover, during this surge in transactions, the average transaction fee on the network soared to 0.00074 OKT.
Read more: 7 cryptocurrencies you need in your portfolio before the next bull market
OKT Chain is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) layer 1 network built on Cosmos and supported by cryptocurrency exchange OKX.
Increased adoption of inscriptions
Meanwhile, Inscription is pushing transactions on multiple EVM-compatible blockchains, including TON, Near Protocol, and Polygon, to unprecedented highs. For context, Epitaph accounted for over 50% of all transactions on Polygon, Avalanche, and BNB Chain last week.
However, it has received criticism from several community members who point out network congestion and the resulting increase in transaction fees.
Read more: Top 10 Cryptocurrencies to Invest in December 2023
Venture capital firm Dragonfly said gas fees for inscription deals peaked at more than $800,000 two weeks ago. However, the transactions consistently resulted in fees exceeding $500,000.
“Inscriptions can skew fundamental metrics such as number of transactions. Inscriptions go against every EVM design decision. Gas costs are the only benefit, at the expense of indexing, incompatibility, and integration issues,” Hildobby said.
disclaimer
In compliance with Trust Project guidelines, BeInCrypto is committed to unbiased and transparent reporting. These news articles aim to provide accurate and timely information. However, before making any decisions based on this content, readers are encouraged to check the facts and consult with experts.