Users of Bitcoin’s blockchain payments network have seen transaction fees explode since October. Meanwhile, the oldest cryptocurrency’s main rival, Ethereum, is also seeing sky-high fees.
According to blockchain data service CryptoRank from earlier this week, ETH gas fees across the network averaged $20 to bridge assets, $60 to make a token swap and $110 to sell an NFT.
Bitcoin fees are on a tear this month, along with the Bitcoin price. From a low of $1.125 per BTC transaction on Oct 27, miner fees reached $18.69 mid-November on the back of Bitcoin ETF mania.
That’s a high in transaction fees unseen since the Bitcoin Ordinals NFT craze back in May. This shows a healthy and growing demand to use the network to lock in Bitcoin transactions on the chain.
That’s a good sign for the network and a revenue boost for Bitcoin miners who sold more Bitcoin than they produced during the October Bitcoin ETF hype rally.
After a long entrenchment in crypto prices following the FTX collapse in 2022, the liftoff in prices brought relief to miners’ bottom lines as they keep up with the high energy cost of securing the BTC blockchain.
According to CryptoFees data, total daily Bitcoin transaction fees averaged $7.4 million for the seven days ending Nov 19.
Transaction fees did take a dip to $10.36 over the weekend as the Bitcoin price cooled. It could be that the Bitcoin ETF rally is losing some steam while investors await word from the SEC.
Markets seem disappointed by the SEC passing up an eight-day window to approve one or more Bitcoin ETFs out of 12 applications before having to extend deadlines for any further filings.
Bitcoin ETF bears like J.P. Morgan say the current rally is “overdone” and expect little gain left for Bitcoin’s market cap after the SEC finally approves an ETF. But bulls like Ark Invest see an upside as high as $650,000 for Bitcoin’s price, with the supply halving right around the corner.
