Bitcoin fees have experienced a significant drop just one day after reaching a record average of $128 on April 20. Currently, the average fees for medium-priority Bitcoin transactions range from $8 to $10, as reported by mempool.space.
Prior to this drop, Bitcoin had surpassed Ethereum in total fees by more than 24 times, with a total of $78.3 million in fees on April 20, according to Crypto Fees.
One notable transaction occurred during the Bitcoin halving block at block height 840,000, where a staggering 37.7 Bitcoin (equivalent to $2.4 million) was paid to Bitcoin miner ViaBTC. This transaction marked the most coveted piece of digital real estate in the network’s 15-year history.
The high demand during block 840,000 was driven by memecoin and nonfungible token enthusiasts competing to inscribe and etch rare satoshis using the Runes protocol, a new token standard launched during the halving block. A total of 3050 transactions were included in this block, resulting in an average payment of just under $800 per user.
The higher-than-normal block fees persisted until block 840,200, after which they decreased to approximately 1-2 Bitcoin, according to mempool.space. This change occurred alongside the decrease in the average block fee, which is now below 3.125 Bitcoin.
During the period of April 15-20, Bitcoin fees surpassed Ethereum for six consecutive days, with a 7-day fee average of $17.8 million. Despite the halving event, Bitcoin’s price has remained relatively unaffected, experiencing a 1.5% increase to $64,840, as reported by CoinGecko.
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