Fees on Bitcoin have surpassed Ethereum for three consecutive days as Miners and traders prepare for the upcoming Bitcoin halving and, to a lesser extent, the launch of Runes on Bitcoin.
Bitcoin miners earned $7.47 million in fees on April 17 – about $160,000 more than the $7.31 million paid to Ethereum Staking , according to Crypto Fees.
Bitcoin miners also raked in $9.98 million and $5.91 million over the course of April 15 and 16 – beating Ethereum investors with $3.5 million and $1.1 million respectively. that respective date.
However, Ethereum still maintains its lead on a 7-day Medium fee basis at $8.55 million compared to Bitcoin's $7.57 million.
Bitcoin transaction fees are determined by the size or data volume of the transaction and the block space needs at the time the transaction is requested.
Bitcoin (BTC) fee increases come at a crucial time for Bitcoin miners as the Bitcoin halving event scheduled for April 20 will result in mining subsidies being cut from 6.25 BTC ($398,000) to 3,125 BTC ($199,000).
Currently, about 900 Bitcoins are mined every day, equivalent to about $57.2 million at current prices.
Using the fee figure of $7.47 million on April 17, this means transaction fees represent 11.5% of the total block rewards of the Bitcoin mining industry.
However, the percentage of block rewards from transaction fees will increase significantly after the halving event as approximately 450 Bitcoins will be mined afterward.
As a result, miners will be more dependent on higher fees and the Bitcoin price continues to rise to compensate for the decline in revenue it will experience – at least in the short term – due to the event. halving.
Meanwhile, the introduction of Ordinals inscriptions in January 2023 has helped Bitcoin miners increase revenue from transaction fees – and a new revenue stream will emerge when Runes, a new Bitcoin Token Standard , released when the halving event took place at block 840,000.
Runes will compete with Ordinals by aiming to make the creation of fungible Token on Bitcoin easier for memecoin enthusiasts and other community-oriented audiences.
The recent increase in Bitcoin fees may be partly driven by a decline in the price of the BRC-20 Token in recent days as some traders turned their attention to Rune.
According to CoinMarketCap, Ordinals (ORDI) and Sats (SATS), the two largest BRC-20s by market Capital , are down 38% and 43%, respectively, over the past week.
