The average transaction costs for the first digital coin transfers fell from $6.47 to $2.72. In December 2017, this indicator was at its maximum and reached $55.
Bitcoin network fees fell 58% in four days, from a two-month high of $6.47 to $2.72. This happened against the backdrop of almost complete disposal of the cryptocurrency mempool from pending transactions. On July 28, the number of unconfirmed transfers surpassed the 2.5-month high of 56,648 with a total block size of 53.5 MB and has been declining since then.
On Sunday, August 9, there were 3,656 unconfirmed transactions in the mempool, the lowest since the middle of July, with a total block size of exactly 9.9 MB. With a sharp increase in activity, the mempool becomes full, which increases the time for transfers in the bitcoin network. This is because miners can only verify 1MB of transactions for each mined block every 10 minutes
When overloaded, miners prioritize transactions with higher fees. This forces users to pay more to make their transfers go faster. Therefore, commissions, as a rule, directly depend on the fullness of the mempool. In December 2017, when Bitcoin reached its highest price at $20,000, network fees reached $55.
