Bitcoin (BTC) transaction fees have experienced a significant drop just one day after reaching an all-time average high of $128 on April 20, coinciding with the fourth Bitcoin halving. As of April 21, the average fees for medium-priority Bitcoin transactions have fallen to $10. The previous day saw Bitcoin accumulate $78.3 million in total fees, surpassing Ethereum by over 24 times. The Bitcoin halving block at height 840,000, which featured a remarkable 37.7 Bitcoin ($2.4 million) paid to Bitcoin miner ViaBTC.
The high demand at block 840,000 was driven by memecoin and non-fungible token (NFT) enthusiasts vying to inscribe and etch rare satoshis using the newly launched Runes protocol, a token standard introduced at the halving block. The block contained a total of 3,050 transactions, resulting in an average user fee of just under $800.
While the elevated block fees persisted until approximately block 840,200, they have since dropped to around 1-2 Bitcoin, as reported by mempool.space. This decline occurred concurrently with the average block fee falling below the reduced block subsidy of 3.125 Bitcoin following the halving event, which reduced the subsidy from 6.25 Bitcoin.
Interestingly, Bitcoin transaction fees have surpassed those of Ethereum for six consecutive days between April 15 and 20, with the 7-day fee average now standing at $17.8 million. Despite the surge in transaction fees and the hype around the Runes halving event, Bitcoin’s price has remained relatively stable, gaining 1.16% over the past 24 hours to trade at $65,926, according to CoinMarketCap’s data.