“Fleeting Rune Fervor? Bitcoin Transaction Fees Surge and Retreat After Halving”

"Fleeting Rune Fervor? Bitcoin Transaction Fees Surge and Retreat After Halving"

"Fleeting Rune Fervor? Bitcoin Transaction Fees Surge and Retreat After Halving"

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Transaction fees skyrocket after halving
Decreased rune popularity leads to a decline in network fees
After Bitcoin set a new record with an average transaction fee of $128 on April 20th, the average fee dramatically dropped within a day. According to data from mempool.space, as of April 21st, the average cost of “medium priority” Bitcoin transactions has decreased to $11.


On the day of the halving, the total fees on the Bitcoin network reached $78.3 million, according to data from Crypto Fees, which is 24 times more than Ethereum.

Especially when the block height reached 840,000 (the halving occurred), the Rune Protocol, a new token standard on the Bitcoin network, was activated. A large number of users paid a total of 37.7 BTC ($2.4 million) in fees to Bitcoin miner ViaBTC in order to deploy and mine Runes. This block included 3,050 transactions, meaning that each user paid an average fee of nearly $800.
According to data from mempool.space, the higher-than-normal block fees continued until approximately block 840,200. After that, the fees for individual blocks dropped to around 1-2 BTC, which is closely related to the weakening Rune speculation frenzy.
Although there are many technical differences between Runes and BRC20, user experience seems to be relatively unchanged under the current infrastructure. Liquidity issues have not been improved, and the current Rune projects lack leaders who can guide unique cultures and communities, causing investors’ attitude to gradually shift from positive to cautious.