Bitcoin’s Transaction Fees Nearly Triple To Double Digits

This marks the highest proportion miners have earned from fees since the price peak of late 2017 and early 2018, when fees climbed to nearly 45% of mining revenue. Glassnode posted on Twitter yesterday: "The percentage of #Bitcoin miner revenue from fees increased to 22.25% in the past hour (24h MA). It is the highest observed value since January 2018."

Bitcoin miners earn less from transaction fees than their Ethereum counterparts. Ethereum has held the more profitable position in terms of fee revenue. This advantage has persisted for more than two months, the longest streak Ethereum has achieved against Bitcoin.

The shift stems from widening adoption of stablecoins and explosive growth in decentralized finance, most of which operates on Ethereum. Messari, a crypto analytics firm, pinpointed June 6 as when Ethereum first surpassed Bitcoin in fee revenue. Ethereum held the lead for over four months through October 22, except for a brief gap at the end of July and beginning of August. Last week Bitcoin reclaimed the top position, but Ethereum retook it on October 25 and has remained ahead.

The competition highlights questions about blockchain incentives and miner compensation. EIP-1559, a proposed fee restructuring for Ethereum, remains contested. The upgrade would reduce transaction costs on the network. Miners oppose the proposal, while the majority of Ethereum users back it.