One week before the halving, the Bitcoin network is faced with another wave of hot demand, with some coming from a now familiar source: Ordinals traders.
As of Thursday, data from mempool.space shows that Bitcoin users are paying over 90 sats/vByte of block space, placing the average cost of a transaction at $8.50 apiece.
The surge in fees has corresponded with an uptick in daily Ordinals inscriptions, which tallied over 162,000 on Thursday compared to a monthly average of 90,280. Meanwhile, the âdaily inscription fee spendâ reached $1.24 million, its highest level in the past month.
The vast majority of network fees were contained to regular transactions, however. Some suspect that on-chain trading activity is ramping up in advance of the Bitcoin halving, which will cut Bitcoinâs supply inflation rate in half within roughly one week.
Itâs not just the halving, either: on April 19, the âRunesâ protocol will be activated â a new token standard on Bitcoin invented by Ordinals creator Casey Rodamor. Much like BRC-20 tokens before them, some expect that their trading activity at launch could drive fees to over $30 each.
Tokens have been foreign to Bitcoin for the bulk of the networkâs lifespan, though thereâs reason to believe theyâll immediately gain traction when introduced.
For instance, Ordinals ushered in NFTs on Bitcoin less than 18 months ago, and have already turned the network into the most popular blockchain for NFT trading, surpassing Ethereum. On Thursday, Bitcoinâs 24-hour NFT trading volume tallied $28 million, versus Ethereumâs $9 million, according to CryptoSlam.
On the bright side, high fees from Ordinals drive up revenues for miners â the entities responsible for securing the Bitcoin network. The halving will naturally cut the bulk of minersâ rewards in half, requiring higher network fees to make up the difference for their bottom line.
The post Ordinals Activity Ramps Up Before Halving â Alongside Bitcoin Fees appeared first on CryptoPotato.
As of Thursday, data from mempool.space shows that Bitcoin users are paying over 90 sats/vByte of block space, placing the average cost of a transaction at $8.50 apiece.
Ordinals Make Their Comeback
The surge in fees has corresponded with an uptick in daily Ordinals inscriptions, which tallied over 162,000 on Thursday compared to a monthly average of 90,280. Meanwhile, the âdaily inscription fee spendâ reached $1.24 million, its highest level in the past month.
The vast majority of network fees were contained to regular transactions, however. Some suspect that on-chain trading activity is ramping up in advance of the Bitcoin halving, which will cut Bitcoinâs supply inflation rate in half within roughly one week.
âBeen monitoring Bitcoin fees for the past few weeks now, and they are starting to rise again meaningfully,â wrote CryptoSlate lead analyst James Van Stratten to Twitter on Thursday. âBitcoin hasnât flipped Ethereum fees in 2024; I think they might soon. Halving may be the catalyst.â
Itâs not just the halving, either: on April 19, the âRunesâ protocol will be activated â a new token standard on Bitcoin invented by Ordinals creator Casey Rodamor. Much like BRC-20 tokens before them, some expect that their trading activity at launch could drive fees to over $30 each.
âRunes launch at Bitcoin halving will begin memecoins on Bitcoin season,â tweeted TrustMachines CEO Muneeb Ali on Monday. âAs L1 breaks with insane fees and activity, all roads lead to Bitcoin L2s.â
The Incoming Bitcoin Fee Wave
Tokens have been foreign to Bitcoin for the bulk of the networkâs lifespan, though thereâs reason to believe theyâll immediately gain traction when introduced.
For instance, Ordinals ushered in NFTs on Bitcoin less than 18 months ago, and have already turned the network into the most popular blockchain for NFT trading, surpassing Ethereum. On Thursday, Bitcoinâs 24-hour NFT trading volume tallied $28 million, versus Ethereumâs $9 million, according to CryptoSlam.
On the bright side, high fees from Ordinals drive up revenues for miners â the entities responsible for securing the Bitcoin network. The halving will naturally cut the bulk of minersâ rewards in half, requiring higher network fees to make up the difference for their bottom line.
The post Ordinals Activity Ramps Up Before Halving â Alongside Bitcoin Fees appeared first on CryptoPotato.