BTC and ETH Transaction Fees Continue to Climb
The block reward halving is one of the most monumental events in the Bitcoin ecosystem, with its consequences being debated for months before and after it happens. And while its effects on Bitcoin have been heavily discussed this month, focusing too closely on Bitcoin fails to provide a bigger picture—that the halving has affected Ethereum, too.
According to the latest report from CoinMetrics, the transaction fees on both the Bitcoin and the Ethereum network have skyrocketed after the halving. This came as a surprise as most other metrics on the network, illustrated in the chart below, have remained relatively flat.
Table showing the 7-day average metrics for the top 5 cryptocurrencies. (Source: CoinMetrics)
Bitcoin and Ethereum See Median Fee Increases of 800% and 250%
On May 14th, two days after the halving, the median transaction fee on the Bitcoin network reached $2.88, the highest it has been since June 2019, CoinMetrics found. Data from Bitinfocharts showed that the average transaction fee on the same day reached as high as $5.1.
Ethereum also recorded the highest median translation fee since August 2018 on May 14, reaching $0.25. According to Bitinfocharts, the average transaction fee that day increased 30% in 24 hours and hit $0.55 at one point.
This was most likely a result of both networks having relatively full blocks, the report found, adding that other high-market cap cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), XRP, and Litecoin (LTC) did not record any meaningful increases in transaction fees.
With block rewards cut to half, the transaction fee was expected to soar as miners suddenly start earning half the revenue from block rewards. Currently, their revenue from fees is a very small percentage of that of block rewards. Ethereum’s fees increase can also be attributed to the increase in the activity of stablecoins, many of which are ERC20 tokens.
Graph showing the growth of median transaction fees for the top 6 cryptocurrencies in the past 90 days. (Source: CoinMetrics).