Bitcoin transfer fees surge: miners increase income, network is worrying
Editor's Note: This article comes fromHoneycomb Finance News (ID: fengchao-caijing), Author: JX kin, reproduced by Odaily with authorization.
Editor's Note: This article comes from
Honeycomb Finance News (ID: fengchao-caijing)
Honeycomb Finance News (ID: fengchao-caijing)
, Author: JX kin, reproduced by Odaily with authorization.
After the halving, some high-power consumption mines shut down, which is the main reason for the decline in the computing power of the entire network.
The difficulty of mining has decreased, but the fees on the Bitcoin network have increased. According to BTC.com data, as of May 20, the daily transaction fee income of the entire network was 192 BTC, an increase of 8.3 times compared to 23.5 BTC three months ago. % rose to 26.75%.
Industry insiders analyzed that the increase in transaction activity is the reason for the increase in Bitcoin transfer fees, which is related to the market rebound after the 3.12 crash.
As the handling fee rises, the income of miners is theoretically increasing. The other side of the coin is the congestion problem of the Bitcoin network. When stablecoins are increasingly becoming payment tools, Bitcoin's currency dream is even more difficult to realize. This is related to its future and the belief of its holders.
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On-chain transactions increased by 7.7 times in 3 months
On May 20, the difficulty of mining was adjusted for the first time after Bitcoin was halved. OKLink data shows that the difficulty of the entire network has been reduced by 6% to 15.14T, and the income per unit computing power is 0.00000381 BTC, which has increased compared to before the halving.
Mati Greenspan, founder of Quantum Economics, said in this regard that the reduction in mining difficulty should help clear the backlog and reduce transaction fees.
But judging from the data on May 21, the congestion is still severe. According to data from the OKLink blockchain browser, as of 10 am on May 21, there were 38,381 unconfirmed transactions on the entire Bitcoin network.
During the halving period, the number of transfers on the Bitcoin network fluctuated greatly, which is also one of the main reasons for network congestion. OKLink data shows that in the past three months, the number of bitcoin transfers on the entire network was the lowest on March 25, only 208,000, and rose to 344,000 on the day of the halving on May 12, compared with the number of transactions on March 25. It has risen by 70%, the highest value in recent times. As of May 20, the number of bitcoin transactions on the 24-hour chain was 288,000. It has fallen back from the day of the halving, and is still higher than the two months before the halving.
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The cost of transfers on the Bitcoin chain has risen rapidly recently
The source of income for miners is mainly composed of two parts: mining and bursting out new blocks to obtain network rewards, and transaction requests on the packaging chain to obtain service fee rewards. The active transactions on the chain will undoubtedly increase the income of miners from handling fees.
The data of BTC.com in the past three months shows that as of May 20, the daily fee income of miners was 192 BTC, compared with 23.5 BTC on February 21, an increase of 8.3 times in three months; network fees accounted for the total reward income 26.75%, which was only 1.22% on February 21. On that day, the actual transaction fee paid by the trader per KB was 0.00014327 BTC. On May 20, the transaction fee that the trader needs to contribute is 0.00125922 BTC.
On February 21, the price of BTC was about $9,700. According to this price, the transaction fee paid by 1KB was 0.00014327 BTC, which was about $1.39. On May 20, the price of BTC was still around $9,700, and the currency price hardly changed. However, the handling fee paid by users for 1KB was 0.00125922 BTC, which is about $12.21.
In 3 months, the transfer cost of the Bitcoin network increased by 7.7 times.
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Network congestion may hinder the upward movement of currency prices
After the output of the Bitcoin network is halved, miners' mining income decreases, but their fee income increases. This seems to be moving towards the vision in Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper. According to his vision, one of the signs of the healthy development of the Bitcoin network is the popularization of this currency, and the main income of miners is from block explosion rewards to handling fees for packaged transaction blocks.
Currently, miners' fees are indeed increasing, but not because of the popularity of Bitcoin transactions or usage.
"At present, the increase in the proportion of handling fees to miners' income can be understood from two perspectives." Jiang Zilong, head of OKLink's business, analyzed to Honeycomb Finance. On the one hand, after Bitcoin is halved, miners' income decreases, resulting in a smaller denominator number; On the one hand, the handling fee has recently increased, the denominator number has become smaller, and the numerator number has become larger, so the ratio has increased.
He judged that the short-term fluctuations in handling fees after the halving of Bitcoin will not become a norm. Although the number of transactions has not been confirmed to increase at present, if we look at it in a longer-term cycle, such as measured in units of years, this increase The value is not outstanding, and the handling fee has not increased to the previous high point. "In December 2017, the single-day handling fee on the BTC chain reached a maximum of 642 BTC, accounting for about 35% of the total revenue of miners."
According to past experience, when the transfer data on the BTC chain is active, it is also when the currency price is in an upward cycle. This time seems to be a little different. The cost of user transfers has increased by nearly 10 times, but compared with three months ago, the price of Bitcoin has hardly changed.
The currency price does not rise, but the transfer fee increases. Regardless of whether it is calculated by the legal currency standard or the BTC currency standard, the user's transfer cost is rising rapidly.
In this regard, Jiang Zilong believes that the increase in BTC network fees and transaction congestion will generally lag behind price fluctuations. Recently, Bitcoin network congestion and rising transaction fees may also be the result of the market rebound after the March 12 crash.
At present, the difficulty of mining on the Bitcoin network has decreased, and the cost of transfer fees has increased. For miners who are on the verge of shutting down after the halving, it can be regarded as a little quenching of thirst.
When mining machines such as Antminer S15 and Antminer T17 were just halved, the cost of photoelectric price accounted for more than 90% of the total revenue. According to data from f2pool, as of May 21, the electricity price cost of Antminer S15 accounted for 70% of the total revenue, with a daily net income of US$0.81, while the proportion of electricity price cost for Antminer T17 dropped to 68%, with a daily net income of US$1.26.
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The income of miners has been greatly improved
The increase in fee income is a good thing for miners, but it is not a good signal for the Bitcoin network, because it means that the network is blocked again. The unresolved congestion problem has always been one of the factors hindering the large-scale application of Bitcoin in actual payment scenarios, and it is also the reason why some early believers in Bitcoin were finally shaken.
Jiang Zhuoer, a supporter of BCH and the founder of LeBit Mining Pool, has repeatedly expressed a position: Once the currency price rises and the BTC network is congested, BTC users will transfer to BCH.
