Bitcoin transaction fees are falling back to Earth.For some time this weekend, it was more expensive to transact on Bitcoin’s network than ever before in history. Teeming with activity, the higher costs for users came as a protocol for Bitcoin-based meme coins launched and rewards for miners were The average Bitcoin transaction fee soared to $127 Friday amid the quadrennial halving event and For example, one Bitcoin user paid a transaction fee of nearly Forget coffee, I can’t even use #Bitcoin to pay for dinner right now…Yes – that’s a $144 fee to send $100… pic.twitter.com/aIajrhpiUp— Vinny Lingham (@VinnyLingham) April 20, 2024Launched by Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor on Friday, Runes allows for the creation of fungible coins on Bitcoin. After an initial rush by intrepid crypto fans to mint tokens, Runes resulted in Bitcoin users spending 312 BTC (or $20 million) on fees, as of this writing, per The average Bitcoin transaction fee settled to levels on Sunday that matched costs seen in December, however. Per Blockchain.com, the average Bitcoin transaction fee had fallen 74% from the day prior on Sunday to $34—a steep drop-off as congestion on Bitcoin’s network faded.Bitcoin transaction fees are dolled out to miners as part of their reward for verifying trasactions and including them in new blocks added to Bitcoin’s blockchain. By paying a higher fee, a Bitcoin user can incentivize miners to include the transaction in a block more quickly.Typically, the rewards that miners receive from fees are outweighed by Bitcoin’s so-called block subsidy, which was reduced to 3.125 BTC this weekend as part of the halving. Over the weekend, though, that longtime trend was momentarily flipped on its head. Bitcoin transaction fees clocked in at $81 million post-halving, representing 75% of rewards that miners earned on Saturday, according to a Dune So, Bitcoin’s latest brush with sky-high fees may have been short-lived. But in light of Bitcoin’s newly lowered block subsidy, miners may be wondering whether the windfall was a one-time blip or a source of revenue to consider in Bitcoin’s fifth epoch.Edited by Andrew Hayward
