Ethereum network fees surpass Bitcoin’s as transactions surge

Following the declining number of Bitcoin transactions, the total network fee has dropped significantly, whereas the total Ethereum network fee sees massive growth, as transactions on the blockchain increased accordingly. This has left as a huge gap between Ethereum and Bitcoin in terms of total fees.

Ethereum network fees rise amid increased activities

As per the information shared by Glassnode, a cryptocurrency data intelligence company, the total transaction fee on Bitcoin was lost to the Ethereum network fee for the second time in 2020, precisely on June 5. Bitcoin fees totaled $308k, while the total Ethereum network fee reached almost $500k. 

Fast forward to the next two days, the Ethereum network fee gained more points, while Bitcoin fees dropped even further. Bitcoin’s fee settled to $253k, while the Ethereum network fee surged to $540k in total. Many people expect the gap to continuously expand, given that transactions on Bitcoin have failed to pick up after halving.

The increasing Ethereum network fee can be related to the many stablecoins being deployed on the blockchain. Reportedly, the transaction value of stablecoin and tokens in the form of ERC-20 has been increasing steadily. Sometime in April, the stablecoin transactions by almost 80 percent. 

Also, unconfirmed transactions on Ethereum has been on the rise. There are more than 100,000 unconfirmed transactions on the Ethereum network. 

Bitcoin fees dropped weeks after halving

Prior to Bitcoin’s halving event on May 11, the total fees on the blockchain maintained growth, as the number of transactions on the network kept increasing. More so, the average transaction fee had spiked to $5.82, which is seen as the new 11-month high at that time.

Additionally, Bitcoin mempool, a platform that measures unconfirmed transactions on Bitcoin’s network, recorded a significant increase in transactions worth nearly 60MB before the halving, and up to 94MB after the halving.

However, a few weeks after, the transaction fee on Bitcoin blockchain dropped by almost 80 percent, reaching an average cost below $1. This reportedly came as the number of transactions declined. At the time of writing, there are only 6606 unconfirmed transactions on the network, which are worth 2.93 MB.