Everyone is celebrating about the fourth halving but what is this?

[Abiky]

It is either what @nullama said (people trying to get into the halving block) or this is "fee market manipulation" considering the timing and how the attack took place. There was an "artificial" injection of a rather large number of transactions (the first suspect is the Ordinals Attackers) into the mempool which has only manipulated the fee market and significantly increased the fee rate by creating this fake competition.

Luckily the attack is becoming very expensive so it can not continue for long but the attack itself will not stop as long as the exploit in the protocol exists and the fake market where they sell fake tokens under the codename Ordinals exists. That is creating an incentive to spam attack bitcoin.

Of course it won't continue. Otherwise, people will stop using Bitcoin for good. That's why the fee mechanism was invented. To help protect the Blockchain against spam attacks. I'd imagine chains with bigger block sizes (BCH and BSV) getting abused because of their higher transaction capacity. Even Solana's ultra-low fees paves the way for transaction spamming. Eventually, the attacker is going to run out of money as fees continue to rise like there's no tomorrow. When fees decline, it will be the perfect time to send money across the BTC blockchain. Or you can take the opportunity to open/close a channel on the LN at a lower cost.

I'm not surprised about fees surging towards the "triple digits", since that's usually the norm with every halving event. The past halving caused fees to rise all the way to the moon (although not as high as they are right now). I'd hope Ordinals moves away to a sidechain just to leave the main BTC blockchain for financial-only applications (sending/receiving money). Maybe Bitcoin Core devs will come up with a solution soon?

[Assface16678]

Still way too high for a small transaction. This is what it was when I checked on it and still not worth it. I even pay almost $20 for my $70 cashout and that really hurts a lot but yeah no choice. Do you guys think it will stay this way or it will soon go down?

Well, of course, we hope that it will get low over time, but still, we're not sure when it will happen. I think this high transaction fee will be in there for quite some time. If we can endure it, then it's better not to engage in any transactions for now as it is not worth it, especially for small transactions. You will be at a disadvantage if you still make those transactions. It's a waste to pay such a huge amount just for transaction fees, and I will not let that happen. I'd rather not make any move as long as the transaction fee is in double digits. For now, I will become quiet and wait for the fees to get low. But notice that there are still transactions being made with a very huge transaction fee and a small amount of transfer, which is why I was wondering if they were okay with that or if they just had the capability to afford those kinds of fees.

[larry_vw_1955]

It is not an idea anybody had, it is just FUD. Every time there is a Halving, there are people who spread this FUD about "miners going away and bitcoin dying" but it never happens. The nature of mining is in a way that it keeps going and when it is accompanied by price rising, the miners' profit grows too but in the long run.
Don't forget that price wasn't always $65k-$70k. It's not so long ago when it was less than half this ($30k-$35k) and miners were making a lot of profit then. And with 3.125BTC reward at $65k we are at the same place as back then!

uh, what happens if bitcoin price ever goes back down into the $40k or even $30k range. would you then admit that it is a failure? because then miners would be in trouble.

Well, of course, we hope that it will get low over time, but still, we're not sure when it will happen. I think this high transaction fee will be in there for quite some time.

miners hope it will be there forever!

If we can endure it, then it's better not to engage in any transactions for now as it is not worth it, especially for small transactions.

you'll never hear someone saying that who holds fiat. it costs nothing to spend their money. so maybe thats a good reason to use fiat. and maybe keep bitcoin as something that doesn't need to be spent but just held for price appreciation purposes. clearly bitcoin is not so user friendly when it has high transaction fees. everyone loves bitcoin when the transaction fees are low but when they get high, you start to hear them grumbling. 

[Findingnemo]

If you don't have enough capital to pay the fees, you have no other option but to wait. That's why I always recommend that you invest whatever extra money you have on top of trading so that you're never forced to pay high fees or withdraw money for making transactions at such times.

My portfolio value is irrelevant here, if that was such a compulsion then why not an altcoin?

If you want to spend $100 on something and you have 10K in your wallet doesn't mean we should pay $26 for transferring $100 or at least in my opinion, I wouldn't do that mistake because we have alternatives to do it for cents.

[Russlenat]

It is now down to $25, thank goodness, so it should continue to fall. I hope we don't get our asses handed to us by the runes during this cycle and that what has happened now is exceptional, otherwise it's not that we won't be able to pay for coffees, it's that we basically won't be able to pay for anything with bitcoin. If to pay $1,000 in bitcoin you have to pay 10% in fees you will pay in fiat or with some altcoin.

Yep mate ! that's the biggest reason why Bitcoin is not yet ready to be used as a regular payment method we use cards and stuff when we go shopping or eat in a restaurant because as you said, you can't afford to pay 10% of what you have spent on the transaction you are going to make, no one would want to experience something like that which is why they would rather use another mean of making their payments than using Bitcoin for it.

If it continues to be this way, our dream of seeing Bitcoin becoming widely accepted worldwide as a payment method will stay a dream forever because it won't work, people would rather use altcoins with cheap transactions fees and faster transaction processing times to make the payments instead of using Bitcoin.

Fees has dropped down into $5 as of this moment so I guess we will start to see people buying and selling bitcoin with regular fees soon. Patience is the best virtue every time this happens, and for those who are impatient  because this brings a lot of hassle for them, then they will eventually learn from this that fees won’t stay high forever. Of course, this will happen again and again but at least we won’t be in panic anymore but just learn to be patient and calm the next time it’ll happen.

[oktana]

A relieving explanation because it will be really saddening if this has a lot more to it. I have come to see that Indeed one of the biggest things than can stop Bitcoin adoption is its own transaction fee. Imagine if this was permanent, a whole bunch of enthusiasts will stop using Bitcoin because they had no choice.

i don't think we expect transaction fees to just go back down to pre-halving levels. if that happened then miners would be getting paid 50% less. but bitcoin isn't about low fees. thats not why it exists. people seem to get that wrong thinking it exists to help them send money cheaply. unfortunately that's not how it was designed for necessarily. so you have to pay whatever to "support decentralization". that's why it really exists. how much it costs is kind of irrelevant theoretically. get used to that notion as it will be a recurring theme in the years to come most likely.

I understand and agree with what you’ve said, indeed, Bitcoin wasn’t created to compete with the current system in regard to being cheaper with transaction fees. However, how much it costs is not irrelevant to everyone. For some, it actually matters for how much they are transacting, or would you rather make a transaction and pay a transaction fee equivalent to the actual value transacted? Depending on the amount being transacted, the transaction cost may be a cause for concern.

[larry_vw_1955]

I understand and agree with what you’ve said, indeed, Bitcoin wasn’t created to compete with the current system in regard to being cheaper with transaction fees.

alot of people think because it's "digital" it was designed to be "cheaper". nonsense. in this case. with crypto.

However, how much it costs is not irrelevant to everyone.

of course not. but being able to send money cheaply or even cost effectively there's no guarantees for that in the bitcoin protocol and there never will be. and its sad that people have to try and "time" when they submit their payment so they can get a cheaper fee. it's like being reduced to a beggar.

For some, it actually matters for how much they are transacting, or would you rather make a transaction and pay a transaction fee equivalent to the actual value transacted? Depending on the amount being transacted, the transaction cost may be a cause for concern.

ask the designers of bitcoin why they set it up that way then. it wasn't me.  

instead you could have unlimited block space and charge everyone a flat $1 fee which the conversion to bitcoin would be handled by some type of oracle. is that what you want?

[Abiky]

My portfolio value is irrelevant here, if that was such a compulsion then why not an altcoin?

If you want to spend $100 on something and you have 10K in your wallet doesn't mean we should pay $26 for transferring $100 or at least in my opinion, I wouldn't do that mistake because we have alternatives to do it for cents.

Well, some people prefer the security and reliability of Bitcoin for payments. Even if that comes at a cost of higher fees and slower confirmation times. Altcoins are faster and cheaper to use, but are often centralized and unreliable. Bitcoin's Lightning Network promises to fix this. But so far, it has failed to attract the masses. I think this has to do with a lack of user experience and flawed/buggy design.

At least, Bitcoin works well as a store of value. With "Wall Street" getting in the game, don't expect this to change anytime soon. Hopefully, fees will be much lower by the next block reward halving.