There is a big hashrate drop after block halving and I think more hashrate drop coming.
And a slow increase in transactions these days.
The decrease or drop on hashrate and the increase of transaction volume will lead to a slow or delayed network. Blockhalving is the big reason why it happens that is why every block halving the transaction is always delayed due to a decrease in rewards. A company or a group of miners is not making any profit anymore and they can't afford to keep up to pay the operational cost and stopped mining.
I'm so shocked to see this big spike today posted above.
Unconfirmed transactions.
and pending transactions.
According to bitcoinfees.earn.com, the recommended fee is 150 satoshis/byte.
If you have full control of the first transaction you can increase the fee to put your transaction in high priority.
Do you have full control of the first transaction?
If not then better ask the man who owns this first transaction and tell him to add or increase the miner's fee.