Bitcoin Surges Past Ethereum In Fee Dominance As Halving Nears For Third Straight Day

Following the Bitcoin halving, transaction fees will be crucial for sustaining miners, with block subsidies decreasing from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

Bitcoin transaction fees have outpaced Ethereum’s for three consecutive days, driven by anticipation of the Bitcoin halving and the forthcoming introduction of Runes on Bitcoin.

On April 17, Bitcoin miners earned $7.47 million in fees, surpassing Ethereum stakers by $160,000, as reported by Crypto Fees.

Across April 15 and 16, Bitcoin miners earned $9.98 million and $5.91 million respectively, outstripping Ethereum stakers by $3.5 million and $1.1 million on those days.

Despite this, Ethereum maintains a slight lead in average fees over a 7-day period, with $8.55 million compared to Bitcoin’s $7.57 million.

Bitcoin transaction fees depend on transaction size and blockspace demand when the transaction is initiated.

The rise in Bitcoin (BTC) fees is significant for miners, coinciding with the imminent Bitcoin halving event on April 20, reducing the mining subsidy from 6.25 BTC ($398,000) to 3.125 BTC ($199,000).

Presently, approximately 900 Bitcoins are mined daily, equivalent to about $57.2 million at current market rates.

Based on the $7.47 million fee tally on April 17, transaction fees constituted 11.5% of the total block rewards for Bitcoin miners.

Following the halving event, the proportion of block rewards derived from transaction fees will notably rise, with approximately 450 Bitcoin being mined thereafter.

Consequently, miners will increasingly depend on elevated fees and potential appreciation in Bitcoin’s value to compensate for the anticipated revenue decline resulting from the halving, particularly in the short term.

Moreover, the implementation of NFT-like Ordinals inscriptions in January 2023 has augmented revenue for Bitcoin miners through transaction fees. Additionally, with the forthcoming release of Runes, a new Bitcoin token standard, coinciding with the halving at block 840,000, miners anticipate a new revenue stream.

Runes will rival Ordinals by simplifying the process of generating fungible tokens on Bitcoin, catering to memecoin enthusiasts and other community-driven groups.

Casey Rodarmor, the creator of both Ordinals and Runes, asserts that Runes, being fully UTXO-based, are designed to mitigate the spamming of the Bitcoin network, a concern associated with Ordinals.

The recent surge in Bitcoin fees might be attributed in part to the decrease in prices of BRC-20 tokens in recent days, with some traders diverting their focus to Runes.

Over the past week, Ordinals (ORDI) and Sats (SATS), the two leading BRC-20 tokens in terms of market capitalization, have experienced declines of 38% and 43% respectively, as reported by CoinMarketCap.

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