Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary recently criticized Ethereum for its congestion and soaring gas fees, claiming the network "cracked under pressure" during market volatility over the weekend of October 2025. O'Leary described instances where transaction fees exceeded $1,000, likening Ethereum to a "thousand-dollar toll" on a one-lane highway, and argued that scalability issues are emerging with real-world adoption driven by legislation like the Genius Act.
In response, the Ethereum community refuted his claims, with developer Adriano Feria stating that Ethereum's Layer 1 is intended as a secure settlement layer for institutional use, not high-frequency retail transactions. Feria highlighted that scalability is handled by Layer-2 rollups, which process nearly 300 transactions per second and are poised to scale another 8x soon, emphasizing priorities of security and neutrality over low costs.
Amid the debate, ETH prices declined nearly 4% during a broader market correction, but Ethereum ETFs saw an influx of $236 million, indicating sustained institutional trust. Gas fees hit a nine-month high, though median costs were lower than O'Leary implied, and analysts noted that congestion could temporarily boost Layer-2 tokens. Long-term, Ethereum's developer focus remains on scaling upgrades like EIP-4844 to address these challenges.
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