For the past three days in a row, Bitcoin’s transaction fees have exceeded Ethereum’s, with miner and trader activity picking up ahead of Bitcoin’s upcoming halving event. Additionally, the emergence of Runes on Bitcoin has had a smaller impact on this trend.
On April 17, Bitcoin miners earned approximately $7.47 million in fees, which is around $160,000 greater than the $7.25 million in fees Ethereum validators received, based on data from Crypto Fees.
On the 15th and 16th of April, Bitcoin miners earned approximately $9.98 million and $5.91 million respectively. This surpassed the earnings of Ethereum stakers by around $3.5 million on the 15th and $1.1 million on the 16th.
On average over the past week, Ethereum’s transaction fees are slightly higher than Bitcoin’s, with Ethereum coming in at $8.55 million and Bitcoin at $7.57 million.
The cost for making a Bitcoin transaction is influenced by two factors: the amount of data included in the transaction and the current demand for blockspace when the transaction is initiated.
Bitcoin (BTC) mining fees have recently increased significantly. This occurs just prior to the Bitcoin halving event on April 20, 2021. During this event, the reward given to miners for each block will be reduced from 6.25 BTC ($398,000) to 3.125 BTC ($199,000). This decrease in subsidy comes at a critical moment for Bitcoin miners as they face higher operational costs.
At present, approximately 900 Bitcoins are extracted daily, translating to around $57.2 million based on current market values.
On April 17, transaction fees amounted to $7.47 million, representing approximately 11.5% of the total rewards earned by Bitcoin miners.
After the halving event, around 450 Bitcoins’ worth of block rewards will shift towards transaction fees, making up a larger portion of the miner’s reward.
Miners may have to depend more on higher transaction fees and an upward trend in Bitcoin’s value to compensate for the income decrease they are likely to face due to the halving, in the initial stage.
In January 2023, the implementation of NFT-like Ordinal inscriptions on Bitcoin brought additional income from transaction fees for miners. With the upcoming release of Runes, a fresh Bitcoin token standard, during the halving at block 840,000, another potential revenue source will emerge.
For memecoin fans and other communities focused on creating fungible tokens on Bitcoin, Runes intend to offer a more straightforward alternative to Ordinals by simplifying the process.
According to its inventor, Casey Rodarmor, who is likewise the brains behind Ordinals, Runes operate on a completely UTXO-based system. This means they may not clog up Bitcoin in the same manner as Ordinals do.
Bitcoins transaction fees have increased lately, which could be due in part to a drop in value for BRC-20 tokens over the past few days. Some traders are now focusing their efforts on Runes instead.
The top two BRC-20s, ORDI and Sats, with the largest market capitalizations, have experienced drops of 38% and 46% respectively over the past week, based on data from CoinMarketCap.
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2024-04-19 10:40