Average BTC Transaction Fees Drop by massive 30%

Bitcoin (BTC) average transaction fees have dropped over 30%, after peaking at $3.19 on May 8

Transaction fees on the Bitcoin networked are averaging at $1.92 today, just hours before the Bitcoin halving. The fees rose on May 8, 2020, reaching its most expensive level in over nine months as pre-halving hype hit the roof, and BTC price spiked to touch $10,000.

According to Bitinfocharts, transaction fees on the network averaged $0.62 on April 26, however, it quickly rose to hit $2.94 on April 30. Although network transactions cost lower at an average of $1.85 around May 3, it hit $3.19, its highest level since July 2019 (also when average BTC transaction fees crossed $3.00).

The average transaction fees had stayed below $1.75 since August 2019, and even touched a low of $0.33 on January 25 and $0.38 on April 5 this year.

The spike to $3.19 accounted for an increase of nearly 300% in average transaction fees, the highest level the fees have touched in over 9 months. The surge in fees made up nearly 6% of the total revenue miners accrued on April 30.

Average BTC transaction fees drop 30% 14 hours to third halving

The countdown to Bitcoin’s third instalment of block rewards halving puts the event just 14 hours away. Despite the recent spike in fees, Bitinfocharts shows average transaction fees have dropped to around $1.92 at the time of press.

The network’s transaction fees depend on the transaction size, measured in bytes, and rise as miners select transactions with the highest fees from the mempool. A surge in fees is, therefore, an indicator that network users don’t mind paying more to have miners pick their transactions and thus expedite the processing.

Bitcoin transaction fees have spiked before, reaching all-time highs as BTC rallied to record its best price levels in 2017.

Past halving events have also seen transaction fees rise significantly. For example, transaction fees topped $0.60 in July 2016 as Bitcoin approached its second halving.

In 2017, average transaction fees ballooned between December 8 and December 22, just as Bitcoin picked up its best run on the market to reach the all-time high price of $20k. Users saw fees climb from about $30 in early December to hit an average of $55 just after BTC had touched its ATH.

The fees reduced throughout much of 2018 and early 2019. But the fees began to spike in January 2019 and peaked at $6.55 on June 27, 2019.

The latest surge in bullish sentiment among network users is likely to see the average transaction fees on the Bitcoin network rise again.