The average transaction fee on the Bitcoin network hit a new high amid a record number of unconfirmed transactions and a decline in the hashrate.
According to data provided by Glassnode, on October 28, the average transaction fee on the Bitcoin network was approximately 0.0009 BTC (or about $ 11.66), the highest since June 2018. The average BTC transaction fee has grown by over 570% over the past two weeks, along with the rise in the price of the first cryptocurrency from $ 11,300 to $ 13,750.
“Bitcoin`s Mempool is again gathering all eyes after the significant increase in transactions caused network congestion, and thus, higher fees,” noted Denis Vinokurov, head of research at the UK company Bequant.
The Mempool represents the queue of unconfirmed transactions on the network. Whenever user activity grows, this inevitably leads to an increase in the size of the Mempool. As demand exceeds supply, miners seek to increase their income by giving priority transactions with higher fees. Consequently, this forces other users to bid higher commissions in order to avoid long waiting times.
Earlier this week, an increase in the activity of Bitcoin users led to a rise in the number of unconfirmed transactions to just above 131,000. The previous time a similar value was recorded was in December 2017.
The recent drop in the Bitcoin hash rate, amid the end of the raining season in China’s Sichuan province, has played a key role in the rise in unconfirmed transactions and fees. Hashrate declined amid rising prices, which resulted in an increased transaction confirmation and network congestion.
