I’m basically just the kind of person who stares at the re-staking risk checklist every day, but these two days the chain has been a bit clogged—sending transactions feels way too real: you hit confirm, but all you’ve really done is toss your “intent” into the mempool to line up, and then it turns into a contest of who’s more willing to pay extra fees to cut in line. The most unbearable thing when it’s clogged is this: you get stuck there and you think it failed, but after a while it suddenly gets included and packaged, or there’s no movement for half a day, yet your nonce locks up all the operations after it… to put it bluntly, it’s psychological torture.

When I see someone calling movements between an exchange’s hot and cold wallets and large transfers “smart money,” I’m actually more inclined to ask one thing first: was this transaction made while squeezing onto a bus, or on an empty lane? Same thing—transfers—but with different choices of congestion and acceleration fees, the meaning can differ a lot. Anyway, I’ve got only two rules right now: don’t panic and click a bunch of times that end up locking yourself in; if you really need to change, use a replacement transaction; first survive, then talk about profits.