A fortnight ago, unconfirmed BTC transactions dipped under 300,000. However, they’ve since rebounded, surpassing the 400,000 mark. While the average network fee remains under $1, since August 6, it’s fluctuated from $0.77, peaking at $2.59 per transaction just two days later on August 8. Presently, the average transaction fee hovers around 0.000032 BTC, equating to $0.836 per transfer.
Bitcoin’s Transaction Pileup Rises by 100,000 Pending Transfers in 2 Weeks
Bitcoin’s transaction backlog, often referred to as the mempool, witnessed a surge from just under 300,000 unconfirmed transactions on July 31, 2023, to a staggering 411,544 awaiting confirmation as of August 20, 2023.
Data reveals that 124 blocks, or over 238 megabytes of block space, are required to tackle this buildup. Notably, the average block time clocked in at 9 minutes and 40 seconds on Sunday, with the hashrate soaring high.
Come 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on that Sunday, the hashrate smoothly sailed at an impressive 411.82 exahash per second (EH/s). Given the brisk block times coupled with a notably high hashrate, the difficulty adjustment is gearing up for a 5.10% rise, catapulting it above the 55 trillion threshold.
This transaction backlog is fueled by both the regular financial transfers made daily and the persistent volume of Ordinal inscriptions churned out. Marking August 20, Ordinal inscriptions exceeded the 25 million milestone. On Sunday alone, a total of 234,120 inscriptions were transmitted across the network.
Comparatively, the preceding day, August 19, saw 300,653 inscriptions crafted. And although the fervor for Bitcoin-based NFTs in terms of sales volume has dwindled, the production of inscriptions remains unwavering and relentless. As of this report, the average transaction fee stands at 0.000032 BTC, equating to $0.836, as sourced from bitinfocharts.com.
From August 8 through August 12, BTC charges surpassed the $1 benchmark, peaking at $2.59 per transaction. The mid-range fee is set at 0.0000084 BTC, or $0.22 per transaction. Notably, August saw a spike, with the median transaction fee reaching $1.14 on August 8.
The median fee on bitinfocharts.com closely mirrors mempool.space’s high-priority fee, registering at $0.26 per transfer as of August 20. Analyzing metrics from recent months reveals that miners are struggling to curtail the growing number of unconfirmed transactions, leading to an ongoing backlog.
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