Bitcoin transaction fees have increased significantly over the past 24 hours, with the average fee reaching $19.20 per transfer. The increase in fees may be related to a backlog of transactions trapped in the mempool, as more than 440,000 unconfirmed transactions are currently awaiting confirmation.
Block Reward Dethroned: Bitcoin Transaction Fees Surpass Mining Subsidy For First Time Since 2017
On Sunday, May 7, 2023, bitcoin transaction fees exceeded the block reward for the first time since December 2017 at a block height of 788,695. The following block heights 788,700 and 788,702 also saw fees exceeding the grant.
Currently, more 440,000 bitcoin transactions are awaiting confirmation with 193 blocks remaining to be mined to clear them all. Fees topped the $25 per trade mark on Sunday, and current data shows an average fee of 0.00069 BTC Or $19.20 per trade.
According to data from bitinfocharts.com, the median fee is 0.0004 BTC Or $11.05 per transfer. High priority transactions pay over $22.90 per transaction and individuals pay $19.95 for medium priority transactions.
Block intervals or mining times have exceeded the ten minute average lately. The most recent block time was around ten minutes and 34 seconds. Slower block times may result in another drop in difficulty – an estimated drop in about 5.3% is scheduled to take place on May 18, 2023.
The average hash rate over the last 2,016 blocks is around 338 exahash per second (EH/s). The network hashrate has fallen below the 300 EH/s range on some instances and is currently running at 385 PE/s at the time of writing.
What impact do you think the spike in Bitcoin transaction fees and the backlog of unconfirmed transactions will have on the future of cryptocurrency adoption and scalability? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, mempool.space
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