Bitcoin's average transaction fee fell significantly on Sunday after rising to a record high a day earlier, driven by the network's fourth halving event.
Bitcoin Transaction Fees Decline After Reaching Record High
According to YCharts data, the average fee paid per transaction in Bitcoin fell to $34.8 on April 21, a significant drop from the record high of $128.45 observed on the day of the halving.
The average transaction fee gives an idea of the average fee paid in US dollars when processing a Bitcoin transaction through mining.
As data shows, on April 20, total transaction fees on the Bitcoin network rose to $81 million, a significant increase from $7.7 million the day before. However, on April 21, total fees dropped to $22.37 million.
The increase in fees coincided with the launch of Casey Rodarmor's Runes protocol, a new token standard similar to BRC-20s. This launch led to a surge in transaction fees as individuals rushed to create Rune-based memecoins.
Additionally, the block halving on April 20 appears to have originated from the ViaBTC mining pool, which received a base reward of 3.13 BTC ($199,579) along with an additional fee of 37.6256 BTC ($2,399,135) from 3,050 transactions in the block.
While the decline in Bitcoin's average transaction fee offers some relief to users and investors following recent volatility, it highlights the dynamic nature of transaction fees in response to network efficiency and protocol developments.
*This is not investment advice.
