Bitcoin Average Transaction Fee Spikes to Record High Amid Fourth Halving
Bitcoin’s average transaction fee significantly decreased Sunday after spiking to a record high the day prior as the network underwent its fourth halving.
Bitcoin Transaction Fees Drop After Reaching All-Time High
The average fee paid per Bitcoin transaction fell to $34.80 on April 21, according to data from YCharts, a significant decrease from the record high of $128.45 recorded the day of the halving.
Data shows that on April 20, total fees paid on the Bitcoin network surged to $81 million, a substantial increase from $7.7 million the day before. However, on April 21, total fees dropped to $22.37 million.
The fee increase coincided with the launch of Casey Rodarmor’s Runes protocol, a new token standard similar to ERC-20. The launch led to an increase in transaction fees as individuals rushed to create Rune-based memecoins.
Additionally, the halving on April 20 appeared to have originated from the ViaBTC mining pool, which received the 3.13 BTC ($199,579) block reward plus an additional 37.6256 BTC ($2,399,135) in fees from the 3,050 transactions included in the block.
While the decrease in Bitcoin’s average transaction fee provides some relief to users and investors after recent volatility, it also highlights the dynamic nature of transaction fees in response to network efficiency and protocol developments.
