Memecoin craze causes Bitcoin transaction fees to skyrocket

As memecoin trading frenzy surged, Bitcoin transaction fees reached their highest point in two years, with total fees on the Bitcoin blockchain amounting to $3.5 million on May 3, according to Crypto Fees data. YCharts reveals that the average Bitcoin transaction fee peaked at $7.2 during this period.

The current surge in trading of memecoins such as Pepe Coin (PEPE) has resulted in an unintended consequence for Bitcoin BTC, causing its transaction fees to reach their highest levels in years.

BRC-20 transactions fuel fee hike

The recent spike in Bitcoin transaction fees is mainly attributed to a surge in BRC-20 transactions. Galaxy Research data indicates that on May 2, 50% of all Bitcoin transactions were related to BRC-20 transactions.

Introduced in March 2023 by the pseudonymous on-chain analyst Domo, the BRC-20 token standard, modeled after Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard, enables the issuance and transfer of fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Pepe coin surge affects blockchain networks

The meteoric rise of the PEPE memecoin, which has rallied more than 600% in the past week, has contributed to the popularity of the BRC-20 token standard. This memecoin hype has impacted the Bitcoin blockchain and led to soaring gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain, reaching multi-month highs. On May 2nd, ETH transaction fees surpassed $19 million, a level unseen since May 2022, according to Crypto Fees.

While the current spike in Bitcoin transaction fees is significant, it is still far from the all-time high levels recorded in April 2021, when average BTC transaction costs nearly reached $70.