Median Bitcoin (BTC) Transaction Fees Are At Lowest Level in Over Three Years

Bitcoin (BTC) transaction fees are at their lowest level in over three years as the median transaction fee for payments made using the flagship cryptocurrency is currently around $0.02, which was last seen in October 2015.

As pointed out by Twitter user Kevin Rooke (@kerooke), there were a total 234,576 bitcoin transactions processed on January 1st, 2019. This is a significant increase from only 134,741 transactions settled on the Bitcoin network on October 13th, 2015. Importantly, the ongoing development and adoption of bitcoin has continued to steadily move in the positive direction – despite the extended crypto bear market.

Bitcoin tx fees just hit their lowest level in over 3 years!

Jan 1, 2019:
Median Bitcoin tx fee = $0.02
Total transactions = 234,576

Oct 13, 2015:
Median Bitcoin tx fee = $0.02
Total transactions = 134,741 pic.twitter.com/HjNUO4ktnj

— Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) January 4, 2019

BTC Transaction Fees Per Block At $225, Up From $39 Three Years Back

As CryptoGlobe reported in December 2018, there are tens of thousands of merchants worldwide that accept bitcoin payments and there was reportedly an increase in the number of venues globally that began taking cryptocurrency as payment even as the market struggled.

Although the median BTC transaction fee is currently the same as it was about three year ago, the average bitcoin TX fee is presently $0.14. This is notably $0.10 more than what users paid in October 2015 when the average BTC transaction fee was only $0.04. Moreover, the fees per block mined on the Bitcoin blockchain has now reached $225, up considerably from when it was $39 per block roughly three year back.

Bitcoin Is Not Perfect, But There’s Definitely Progress 

In response to Twitter user willy wonky’s (@drvaderdlt) comment that BTC is “cheap” only when there are not enough people using it, meaning bitcoin transaction fees are low only when there’s less traffic on its network, Rooke acknowledged that this was in fact true. He also noted: 

[The Bitcoin network] is handling 75% more transactions than 2015 with same median fees. It’s not perfect, it’s progress.

During the week starting from December 31st, 2018 to January, 7th 2019, bitcoin miners earned approximately $51.5 million (for validating blocks on BTC’s blockchain). This was about 6% less than what the cryptocurrency’s miners earned during the previous week. The average BTC price for the past week, according to statistics shared by BraveNewCoin, was $3,849.20. Moreover, there were $2.92 billion (appr. 760,000 BTC) worth of bitcoins transacted across the digital currency’s blockchain last week.

Average BTC On-Chain Transaction Value Was $1,570

The average on-chain BTC transaction was valued at approximately $1,570, which is 10.25% less than the average USD value of bitcoin transactions settled during the previous reported week. For the week ending on January 7th, 2019, there were 13,287 bitcoins created which is about 5% less than the previous week.

Interestingly, there was a discussion among Twitter users about measuring or comparing bitcoin fees. BitConsultants, an organization focused on conducting workshops to help educate users about bitcoin, commented: “It is more accurate to measure fees in sat[oshi]/byte as opposed to USD. USD fee rate always changes with the price.”

Meanwhile, BitcoinVisuals.com (@BitcoinVisuals) wrote:

I think they give you two different measures. Converting to USD gives you a sense of the buying power of that fee. The USD price of bitcoin is relevant, because if sat/byte stays the same, and bitcoin price rises, the opportunity cost of that fee increases.