What's happening with Bitcoin transaction fees?

[Bureau]

I have updated the OP and I am not happy with what is happening at the moment. If the developer team don't come up with a solution then this might be the end of financial freedom. This is going beyond what everyone thought as Ordinals are now growing more powerful than what we expected.

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[Woodie]

Its kind of fun watching what's going on with our transaction fees on mempool...

and interesting enough is that someone keeps bumping the average sat/vB to X5 whats there.... for example if this person finds the highest priority fee being 40 sat/vB he/she bumps it to 200 sta/vB and this has been going on all day!

Could miners be onto this and someone is enjoying spamming the Bitcoin network??

[apogio]

someone is enjoying spamming the Bitcoin network??

Absolutely. However, they are losing money doing this, so don't worry. At some point the network will be back to normal. It's sad for ordinary users though, but luckily we can use LN.

[pawanjain]

I personally feel it won't last longer and as soon as the hype for ORDI is over then the tx fees should come back to normal rates as earlier.
We have seen such price jumps earlier and it was over within few days as the tx got confirmed.
We just have to wait until the mempool is free.

[Yey09]

Eh, another proof that btc need higher TPS but no one want to listen

[knowngunman]

I was checking mempool and saw the transaction  fee sky rocketing. I am not sure what happened suddenly as these fees are way beyond anyone's imagination. Later on, I did found out that Binance has listed Ordinals (ORDI). I want to ask the community whether the severe high transaction fee occured because of the listing?

It might be very possible that the increase in transaction fees could be related to the listing of Ordinals on Binance but it is also worth noting that there is an increase in overall activity on the blockchain and possibly, there could be a shortage of computing power available to process transactions. So there is no doubt that Ordinals can contribute to network congestion and the increment of transaction fees it takes up more space on the blockchain and can slow down the overall network and whatever the case is, it's definitely worth investigating further.

This ordinals made me to waste coins last time and here it come again. The simple way t solve this problem is to remove these Ordinals from the bitcoin network. Then the the congestion rate will reduce and the transaction fee will also reduce. And like this now many can not withdraw or make a transaction because of the high fee. Early this when I did a transaction I fell the impact of the high fee compared to other times.

This is the second time the transaction fee is going high in this year. And I said this will affect many people. We just pray that it will not stay longer than a week.

It's actually annoying but removing Ordinals could set a precedent for other use cases to be removed in the future and this would have a negative impact on the overall development of the Bitcoin network.

[hosseinimr93]

but it is also worth noting that there is an increase in overall activity on the blockchain and possibly, there could be a shortage of computing power available to process transactions.

The problem can't be low network hash rate. The average block is now around 9.8 minutes and that means that the hash rate has increased since the last difficulty adjustment.
Also note that even if the network hash rate decreases and blocks take bigger time to be mined, the next difficulty adjustment will solve the problem.

As mentioned many times in this thread and other threads, the network is congested due to transactions related to ordinals.

[we-btc]

Satoshi Nakamoto - Bitcoin white paper "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.

This concept gives Bitcoin it's value. If we don't nurture this idea then Bitcoin is just another centralized financial vehicle with questionable value.

Don't let Ordinals destroy the hope and financial sovereignty created by Bitcoin and it's stated purpose.

Tom McPhail

[jeraldskie11]

This situation would not help small investors and traders as they would avoid these kinds of transaction fees.

This probably won't affect traders since they trade using exchange, small investors also will not be affected by this situation.
Honestly, I experienced this kind of stuff yesterday, I transfer some some mbtc to exchange but I didn't received a notification that's why I decided to check the transaction to blockchair and found out that 1 confirmation takes 24hrs. I was shock since I payed more from my usual fee just to make sure that I will immediately receive to my exchange account. I decided to bump the fee but still won't work, that's why I cancelled the transaction. Then I tried different fee estimation algorithm which is mempool, and it works. So to those who are experiencing network congestion, try to use mempool instead of ETA and Static.

[philipma1957]

Satoshi Nakamoto - Bitcoin white paper "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.

This concept gives Bitcoin it's value. If we don't nurture this idea then Bitcoin is just another centralized financial vehicle with questionable value.

Don't let Ordinals destroy the hope and financial sovereignty created by Bitcoin and it's stated purpose.

Tom McPhail

The reality is LTC/Doge can do the same thing  and we have reached a different era for BTC

IE big ass storage of wealth.

You simply can't show that for small peer to peer sends the LTC/Doge are not better.

So far BTC has done multiple tweaks to do better with small transactions.

bc1 has better fees
legacy 3 addresses have better fees
LN have better fees

but even with all that network clogs an 100 or 200 sats a byte are needed.

I can safely send 10000 usd worth of LTC for as low as 0.00000134 ltc or under 1 tenth of a penny.

BTC simply needs to give up the idea they can match LTC/Doge for cheap fast sends.

and btw watts to wealth is the foundation for satoshi's idea. no one can show that LTC/Doge does not do watts to wealth.

If you think of them like a scooter or a bike

and think of btc like a bus or train it would be far far far more realistic way to promote the 3 most important pow coins.

[The Cryptovator]

I had been wondering why Bitcoin was taking so long to confirm the transaction. After reading your topics and other replies, I have realised that the current Bitcoin network is congested due to Ordinals. It seems it went viral and was hyped, and since they let mint NFT in the Bitcoin blockchain, so many mining transactions are ongoing there. However, this issue will be normal when the hype is gone. Nothing concerning here; since Binance listed them, the community has become hyped and is mining NFTs there.

[we-btc]

BTC simply needs to give up the idea they can match LTC/Doge for cheap fast sends.

and btw watts to wealth is the foundation for satoshi's idea. no one can show that LTC/Doge does not do watts to wealth.

If you think of them like a scooter or a bike

and think of btc like a bus or train it would be far far far more realistic way to promote the 3 most important pow coins.

Let's look at the fundamentals.  What are the problems we are actually trying to solve with Bitcoin:

1. Centralized control of the currency.
2. Freedom to transact without 3rd party approval.
3. A broken banking system with fractional reserve banking and second layer of currency controls.
4. All of the power and corruption that comes along with a government printing money with no limits.
 
If Bitcoin is not used as a currency it fixes none of these.
If you just want a digital currency the dollar works just fine.

If you want to solve these problems you need Bitcoin the way it was intended.
A self custody, purely peer-to-peer currency that is decentralized.

Without that you have another centrally controlled investment vehicle for the rich and powerful.

[Bureau]

Is there any solution to what is happening with the transaction fee? Apart from getting the Blockchain forked what else can be done. The fees are now becoming a pain for small business owners and those who make micro payment.

I think everyone should move towards the LN. As it is the only option left now. Considering a person who wants to buy $20 wort of product or someone interested in transferring $20 worth of Bitcoin. They would need to pay $5 worth of fees. Is this what Bitcoin meant when it was launched.

In the end a common person won't be able to enjoy swift transaction other than finding a solution to preserve money in the form of Bitcoin.

[uchegod-21]

Is there any solution to what is happening with the transaction fee? Apart from getting the Blockchain forked what else can be done. The fees are now becoming a pain for small business owners and those who make micro payment.

The situation now in the Bitcoin network is not a new thing. The last time the mempool was congested, it was very severe and if I'm not mistaken,  even more severe than this current situation and there was no forking of the Bitcoin network.  I believe we will scale through and the system will not be forked.

I think everyone should move towards the LN. As it is the only option left now. Considering a person who wants to buy $20 wort of product or someone interested in transferring $20 worth of Bitcoin. They would need to pay $5 worth of fees. Is this what Bitcoin meant when it was launched.

Do you really believe the LN is the solution, Considering the congestion of the mempool and high transaction fee?
LN would be a nice option only if the LN was open before the congestion on the mempool which resulted in the hike in transaction fee. But if you want to open the LN now that the mempool is already congested and Transaction fees is already high, you will still pay a very high opening fee before you can access the LN and still pay another very high transaction fee to return back to the unchained. You see? This very high opening and closing fees are discouraging .

[apogio]

Do you really believe the LN is the solution, Considering the congestion of the mempool and high transaction fee?
LN would be a nice option only if the LN was open before the congestion on the mempool which resulted in the hike in transaction fee. But if you want to open the LN now that the mempool is already congested and Transaction fees is already high, you will still pay a very high opening fee before you can access the LN and still pay another very high transaction fee to return back to the unchained. You see? This very high opening and closing fees are discouraging .

Of course LN is the solution but provided you have opened the channels already. If not, you will have to pay the opening fee which is on-chain and as such, you will have to pay high fees.

In 2021, a friend of mine was trying to convince me to open LN channels now and not in the upcoming years, because who know how high the fees would be. But in 2021, I didn't know a lot about LN, so... Unfortunately I have only a few open channels now.

[we-btc]

Of course LN is the solution

Why would the Bitcoin developers add anything to core that would make it less efficient and more congested and why would anyone support any solution that centralizes Bitcoin and puts 3rd parties in the middle of every Bitcoin transaction?

Fundamentally both of these things defeat the purpose of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin's purpose and it's value comes from the idea that people and organizations can transact peer-to-peer on a decentralized network.  Without both of these core tenants, Bitcoin fails to be a solution to the current monetary system.

If you want a monetary system that is fast and relatively cheap then use the US Dollar. If you want a truly peer-to-peer, decentralized money then insist that the core developers work to make Bitcoin more efficient and less centralized.

[Bureau]

I just now check the mempool and found the fees have touched a new high again. As of now you would need to pay $16 as a fee for a Bitcoin transaction. Considering what was promoted and promised these fee are higher than a government based international transactions fee.

An amount of $16 as fee is way beyond the reach of anyone who is new to this culture of decentralisation. Considering what is happening now I feel decentralisation has a big loophole.

What do you guys think?

[Z-tight]

An amount of $16 as fee is way beyond the reach of anyone who is new to this culture of decentralisation. Considering what is happening now I feel decentralisation has a big loophole.

The high fees does not affect BTC's decentralization, what it affects is the use case of BTC as a means of payment, with the fees as high as it is now, it is almost impossible for people to use it for payments, especially micro payments. We have been discussing about ordinals and the congestion it is causing in the network, i thought it would be over by now, but i was wrong and i can't even see an end to it anytime soon. I think the only solution right now is for bitcoiners to adapt, they can use LN for micro payments or hold their coins until fee rate drops a little.

[AGD]

I just now check the mempool and found the fees have touched a new high again. As of now you would need to pay $16 as a fee for a Bitcoin transaction. Considering what was promoted and promised these fee are higher than a government based international transactions fee.

An amount of $16 as fee is way beyond the reach of anyone who is new to this culture of decentralisation. Considering what is happening now I feel decentralisation has a big loophole.

What do you guys think?

Depends on the amount you want to send. Sure, sending 2$ for a 16$ fee is absurd, but try to send an international transfer of a million $. 16$ fee is ridiculously cheap then.

[AGD]

An amount of $16 as fee is way beyond the reach of anyone who is new to this culture of decentralisation. Considering what is happening now I feel decentralisation has a big loophole.

The high fees does not affect BTC's decentralization, what it affects is the use case of BTC as a means of payment, with the fees as high as it is now, it is almost impossible for people to use it for payments, especially micro payments. We have been discussing about ordinals and the congestion it is causing in the network, i thought it would be over by now, but i was wrong and i can't even see an end to it anytime soon. I think the only solution right now is for bitcoiners to adapt, they can use LN for micro payments or hold their coins until fee rate drops a little.

Lightning is a solution for micro payments.