Memecoin hype drives Bitcoin transaction charges to multi-year highs
Bitcoin transaction charges saw a pointy surge in early Might, reaching their highest level over the previous two years, in keeping with information from CryptoFees.
On Might 3, the full quantity of charges paid on the Bitcoin blockchain reached an quantity of $3.5 million, leaping about 400% from late April. The common Bitcoin transaction price reached as a lot as $7.2, in keeping with YCharts.
The continued buying and selling frenzy of memecoins like Pepe Coin (PEPE) has triggered an undesirable consequence for Bitcoin (BTC), driving its transaction prices to multi-year highs.
The newest enhance in BTC transaction charges is essentially attributed to a surge in Bitcoin exercise involving BRC-20 transactions. In keeping with information from Galaxy Analysis, 50% of all Bitcoin transactions on Might 2 had been related to BRC-20 transactions.
Modeled after Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard, BRC-20 is an experimental token customary permitting customers to situation and switch fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. The usual was launched in March 2023 by a pseudonymous on-chain analyst often called Domo.
The BRC-20 token customary has shortly become a major trend in the cryptocurrency industry, particularly amid the sharp progress of the PEPE memecoin. The token has rallied greater than 600% over the previous seven days, reaching its all-time excessive of $0.00000216 on Might 5.

The Bitcoin blockchain isn’t the one blockchain affected by the ongoing memecoin hype. Fuel charges on the Ethereum blockchain have additionally been skyrocketing to new multi-month highs just lately.
On Might 2, ETH transaction charges hit an combination quantity of greater than $19 million, a stage not seen since Might 2022, in keeping with CryptoFees. The Ethereum blockchain stays the most costly community when it comes to transaction charges on the time of writing.
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Regardless of the newest spike in Bitcoin transaction charges, the present BTC transaction price remains to be removed from all-time excessive ranges. The highest Bitcoin transaction fees ever seen had been recorded in April 2021, when the typical BTC transaction price nearly reached $70 amid a significant decline within the Bitcoin community hash charge. The earlier highest level in BTC transaction charges was in 2017, with transaction prices surging above $60.
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