Bitcoin Surpasses Ethereum in Fees First Time in Years

Bitcoin has reclaimed its position as the leader in daily cryptocurrency transaction fees, surpassing Ethereum for the first time in three years. According to the most recent data, Bitcoin's daily fees reached $11.63 million. For comparison, Ethereum recorded only $8.44 million over the same period of time. 

Taking Ethereum's crown

Three years ago, Ethereum surpassed Bitcoin in terms of transaction fees, a development attributed to its versatile blockchain platform, which enabled a diverse range of decentralized applications (dApps). 

This versatility attracted significant user activity, particularly in the burgeoning field of decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), leading to higher transaction fees on the Ethereum network. 

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This period of dominance positioned Ethereum as a multifaceted platform compared to Bitcoin, which primarily functions as a digital currency.

Game-changer? 

Recently, Bitcoin has experienced a sharp increase in average transaction fees. Starting from the beginning of November, fees have escalated significantly, with the fee on Nov. 16 reaching $18.69 per transaction. This surge represents a nearly 1,000% increase from the fee recorded on Nov. 1.

Some experts view this rise in transaction fees as a positive development. They argue that higher fees contribute to the sustainability of the Bitcoin network, especially in the context of diminishing block rewards for miners.

The recent increase in Bitcoin's transaction fees comes at a critical time for Bitcoin miners, who have faced one of their least profitable years.

The upcoming Bitcoin halving, scheduled for next spring, will further reduce the block subsidy from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. In this scenario, higher transaction fees could become a more significant portion of miners' revenue, potentially accounting for 20%-30% of the block reward.

This shift toward fee revenue is seen as crucial for the long-term sustainability of Bitcoin's mining and transaction verification process.

It should be noted that Bitcoin's Ordinals inscriptions are now outperforming Ethereum in NFT sales.