---
license: odc-by
pretty_name: "Ethereum pending transactions, dwell times and drops"
tags:
  - mempool
  - ethereum
  - transactions
  - blockchain
  - time-series
task_categories:
  - time-series-forecasting
size_categories:
  - 1M<n<10M
---

# Ethereum mempool

Transactions seen pending on Ethereum: how long they waited, and which of them were never mined
at all.

## Contents

| name | one row is |
|---|---|
| `e1_mempool_minutely` | one minute of pending-set activity |
| `e1_mempool_dropped` | a transaction seen pending that never reached a block |
| `e1_mempool_lifecycle` | a transaction seen pending, per transaction (ends 2026-08-26, see below) |
| `e3_mempool_divergence` | one comparison of pending sets across several independent views |

## Read this before you use it

The Flashbots Mempool Dumpster publishes the same measurement daily under CC-0, from a wider
node set and with a longer history. For most Ethereum questions theirs is the better source and
you should use it.

What this adds is a SECOND, independent observer. A dwell time is only meaningful against
somebody else's dwell time, and `e3_mempool_divergence` exists to size how much two views of the
pending set actually disagree. If you are checking a result against another source rather than
looking for the deepest single feed, that is what this is for.

`e1_mempool_lifecycle` stops at 2026-08-26. Per-transaction rows were discontinued there for
exactly the reason above: duplicating a freely available measurement was not worth the storage it
took. `e1_mempool_minutely` and `e1_mempool_dropped` continue, and the dropped rows are the part
with no free equivalent, because a transaction that is never mined leaves no on-chain record.

## Before you build on this

- Pending sets are node-local. What one view holds is not what the network holds, and retention
  is a configuration choice rather than a protocol rule.
- `dropped` means confirmed absent from the chain, absent from every pending view held, and still
  absent after a debounce period. It is never inferred from a single observation.
- Timestamps are ours, taken at observation. They are not consensus timestamps and carry our
  network distance to whatever served the data.
- The minutely table is an aggregate by construction. If you need per-transaction Ethereum rows
  for a date after 2026-08-26, the Dumpster has them and this does not.

Partitions are parquet, one file per collection window, under `dataset/YYYY/MM/`. Every dataset here carries a FIXED 7-day sample WINDOW starting at its own first day of collection, together spanning 2026-08-25 to 2026-09-01, so you can check schema, coverage and quality before asking for more. It does not advance, so there is nothing to gain by re-downloading it. The full history is held privately, available on request.

```python
from huggingface_hub import snapshot_download
import pandas as pd, glob

path = snapshot_download("dataforge-labs/ethereum-mempool", repo_type="dataset",
                         allow_patterns="e1_mempool_minutely/**")
df = pd.concat(map(pd.read_parquet,
                   glob.glob(f"{path}/e1_mempool_minutely/**/*.parquet", recursive=True)))
```

## Coverage

`e0_run_manifest` lists every collection window with its poll counts and failure counts, and is
published in full rather than windowed. Gaps between windows are real, cannot be filled in
afterwards, and nothing here is interpolated.

## License and contact

ODC-BY: use it freely, credit "DataForge (dataforge-labs)". Questions and requests for the full
history via the discussions tab.