The cost of sending BTC has reached an all-time high of $ 59 amid a slowdown in block creation and transaction confirmation, as well as the ongoing boom in the cryptocurrency market.
According to several sources, the average transaction fee on the Bitcoin network was $ 59. In 2017, at the peak of the last BTC bull market, this figure stood at $ 50.
Average BTC Transaction Fee. Source: Bitinfo Charts.
The rise in transaction fees on the Bitcoin network is correlated with a rally in the price of BTC, which has soared above $ 63,000 this month. However, last weekend bitcoin broke through the support at $ 60,000 and fell below $ 52,000. The reason was the massive shutdown of miners and possible measures by the US Treasury. On the morning of April 23, Bitcoin continued its pullback and fell below $ 50,000 for the first time since March 8.
The hashing power of the leading Bitcoin mining pools dropped sharply last week due to a power outage in China’s Xinjiang province after a mine flooded. This led to a decrease in the speed of mining blocks in the Bitcoin network. As a result of the slowdown in mining, over 100,000 unconfirmed transactions with a total “weight” of more than 80 MB were collected in the Bitcoin mempool.
“This is a combination of a shortage of ASIC miners, a sharp rise in the price of BTC ahead of the complexity, and a sudden drop in hash rate, which led to a decrease in the speed of mining blocks and delays in transaction confirmation, as well as additional fees per block,” said Thomas Heller, Commercial Director of Compass Mining. Heller).
When the Bitcoin hash rate drops by a quarter or more and the BTC mining difficulty is record high, blocks are created slowly and scattered, with some blocks taking an hour or more to mine. At this rate, the difficulty of mining is likely to change in early May.
“We expect to receive more information in the coming days regarding the timing of the return of Chinese ASIC miners to the network. If all goes well, maybe the devices will be connected for the weekend. However, most of Xinjiang’s miners are biding their time to move their ASICs to Sichuan in anticipation of the rainy season in China, ”Heller said.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
