, the average Bitcoin transaction fee falls to $1
The average transaction fee on Bitcoin ( BTC) was below $1.00 for its first time in more than two years. This further strengthens its viability as mainstream financial system.
Transaction fees on blockchain networks can be detrimental to users, particularly when they are low-value transactions. Transaction fees on the Ethereum blockchain soared several times during nonfungible token hype, causing stress for general users.
Although the Bitcoin ecosystem has had its fair share in high transaction fees, recent upgrades such as the Lightning Network or Taproot will ensure faster and more affordable transactions. The average Bitcoin transaction fee fell to $0.825, as of Monday. This number was last seen on June 13, 2020.
Over the last 3 years, average Bitcoin transaction fees. Source: Blockchain.com
The drop in transaction fees is not only due to timely upgrades but also to falling market prices and lower mine difficulty. The difficulty of mining a new BTC-block is on the rise as miners have access to more affordable hardware and recover from the long-term chip shortage.
Bitcoin network difficulty chart. Source: Blockchain.com
August marked the end to the three-month-long decline in network difficulty. It also marked the return to 28.351 trillion after its freefall. The Bitcoin network continues to show signs of a healthy financial sector thanks to its consistent community efforts.
Related: Bitcoin pushes to be more scalable using zero-knowledge proofs
Users expect network upgrades to lower transaction speeds and gas fees, but not all upgrades can do that. The most anticipated Ethereum upgrade, The Merge , will not lower gas fees.
According to the Ethereum Foundation:
“The Merge disapproves the use proof-of work, transitioning into proof-of stake for consensus. However, it does not significantly alter any parameters that directly affect network capacity or throughput.
Merge upgrades are a way to join the Ethereum mainnet’s existing execution layer with the Beacon Chain. This eliminates the need for expensive energy-intensive mining.
