Re: Can a miner please process my transaction, reward will be given
Something seems to have work, or maybe the block has been picked up, i reget that i put 0.10$ transaction fee for a 44$ transaction.
Looks like AntPool picked it up... whether or not this was because of the "acceleration" or the mempool just emptied out and they just happened to be the ones who mined the block your transaction was in we'll never know. 
as for the increases in transaction numbers... maybe its sports betting on the World Cup?
