On Tuesday, September 1, the average transaction fee in the Ethereum network hit a historical high of $10. Data from Blockchair show this.
\n
For comparison, Bitcoin’s figure stands at $3.57.
\n
Average transaction fees in Bitcoin and Ethereum networks. Data: Blockchair.
\n
Initially, the average Ethereum fees came close to $10, and then crossed this round figure.
\n
Data: Blockchair.
\n
The rise in the share of revenue from transaction confirmations in the Ethereum network occurred amid growing popularity of Ponzi schemes and DeFi protocols, as well as more active use of stablecoins.
\n
In the community, many no longer doubt that gas costs will reach 500 Gwei and are beginning to forecast a rise to 600 Gwei.
\n
\n
We’re gonna see 500 gas this year no question.
\n
Maybe even 600? pic.twitter.com/VOgvql4Hi1
\n
— (@safetyth1rd) September 1, 2020
\n
\n
For fast transactions (under 2 minutes), the ETH Gas Station service recommends setting the gas price at 476 Gwei. For standard and slow transfers these figures are 462 and 428 respectively.
\n
Recommended gas prices in the Ethereum network. Data: ETH Gas Station.
\n
Against the backdrop of record fees, Ethereum’s price rose to a two-year high, reaching $473 per coin. In the last 24 hours the asset rose by almost 10%. In August, the second-largest cryptocurrency was up 25%.
\n
Chart ETH/USD on Bitstamp from TradingView.
\n
According to The Block analyst Larry Cermak, in August the size of transaction fees in the Ethereum network amounted to $115.3 million, while in the Bitcoin blockchain — $39.2 million. On August 31 this gap was 7.5 times larger, on August 30 — 9.5 times.
\n
\n
This is for the entire month. Two days ago, Ethereum miners generated 9.5 times more and yesterday 7.5 times more. Not like this is sustainable but still crazy to see.
\n
— Larry Cermak (@lawmaster) September 1, 2020
\n
\n
Cermak questioned the sustainability of this trend. Erez Ben-Kiki, co-founder of the startup 2key.network, supported him. He explained that such high fees could become a barrier to using the second-largest cryptocurrency’s network.
\n
\n
Actually, those are not good news for Ethereum!
\n
It shows how expensive it is to use it, and with those fees it won’t be sustainable.
\n
— Erez Ben-Kiki (@erezbk) September 1, 2020
\n
\n
User @JamesGuenther12 reported that the company associated with him has been selling more GPUs in recent days than three years ago at the peak of the bull market.
\n
\n
Our GPUs sell on second hand market for more than we bough them for 3 years ago too. Hindsight is 20/20 but damn it must be hurting to witness this as a BTC miner.
\n
— James Guenther (@JamesGuenther12) September 1, 2020
\n
\n
According to Glassnode, Ethereum’s blockchain growth rate in recent months has doubled from the start of the year — to 260 MB per day on average. This figure is 40% higher than Bitcoin’s absolute maximum (186 MB per day). The sizes of Bitcoin’s and Ethereum’s blockchains today stand at 345.55 GB and 420.09 GB, respectively.
\n
\n
#Ethereum‘s blockchain growth rate has skyrocketed in the past months to 260MB per day.
\n
That is a 2x increase since the beginning of the year.
\n
And 40% higher than #Bitcoin‘s current blokchain growth rate – which is at an ATH (186MB per day).
\n
Live chart: https://t.co/QLptn0lfJB pic.twitter.com/UY8VLWEYMZ
\n
— glassnode (@glassnode) August 31, 2020
\n
\n
Back in July, when network fees reached two-year highs, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin acknowledged the problem and proposed implementing the improvement EIP-1599.
\n
It would raise the network’s total throughput from 12.5 million Gwei to 16 million Gwei. Base fees would be increased or decreased depending on whether this metric sits above or below the 10 million Gwei threshold. Miners’ rewards would consist of payments for prioritising transaction inclusion, while the base fee would be burned.
\n
Subscribe to ForkLog news on VK!