What Is a “Mempool” in the Context of a Cryptocurrency Network?

The mempool (memory pool) is a waiting area for unconfirmed transactions that have been broadcast to the network but have not yet been included in a block. Each node maintains its own version of the mempool.

Miners select transactions from this pool, prioritizing those with the highest fees, to assemble the next block. A high volume of transactions in the mempool indicates network congestion.