April’s Bitcoin Price Surge Results in Direct Increase for BTC Blockchain Transaction Fees

The transaction fees of Bitcoin is on the rise again, after successfully hovering around the $0.50 mark over the last six months.

Data obtained from Bitinfocharts on April 18, 2019, shows that average fees hit their highest levels in nearly a year in early April, and ever since then, average fees have swelled to around $1 to $2.

Why Bitcoin Fees Are Necessary

Bitcoin fees are quite important because there is limited room in every block added to the bitcoin blockchain, a challenge that most blockchain face in order to fulfill its goal of giving users total control of their own money.

With the growing ubiquity of blockchain, in the near future, crypto holders might have no choice but compete with others in other to get their transactions confirmed.

As such, a user needs to spend more money on the transaction fees to incentivize the miners securing the network to push through a transaction faster by prioritizing theirs over the others.

The contributing factor to the rise of the fees this time around is basically due to some factors. As bitcoin blocks fill up with transactions, fees increases, and the number of transactions waiting in the mempool, saw a sharp spike earlier this month.

Experts are of the opinion that the influx of people into the system is a fundamental reason why the prices are going up, and it may continue to rise, as long as people become more interested in Bitcoin. A Bitcoin enthusiast and founder of Seoul Bitcoin meetup, Ruben Somsen, who has been very concerned about the transaction fees said:

‘'As long as more people become more interested in bitcoin, fees will inevitably rise.”

More Fees

Due to the limited space for transactions in the Bitcoin blockchain, the fees are necessary to keep the network small enough so that as many people as possible can download all the data to run what is generally known as a ‘' full node” due to the fact that it gives users the ability to verify every transaction.

Although some cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash have tried to get around this hurdle by increasing the block size, and indeed, transaction fees are much lower for those using the blockchain.

In related news, as reported by Bitcoin Exchange Guide on April 17, a bitcoin enthusiast and chief executive of ADFN Clem Chambers has predicted that the Bitcoin price might jack up to $10,000 before the end of the year.

Chambers believes that the cryptocurrency bear market is over and that bitcoin could eventually rally as a result shortly.

Chambers, a very optimistic bitcoin trader further said that if Bitcoin is able to take 20% of gold's market share, bitcoin would clearly surpass its all-time high of $20,000, which was registered in December 2017, a price virtually every crypto critic is praying against as it will prove that cryptocurrency is clearly the future of the world's financial ecosystem.