It is that time of year again when the Bitcoin transaction fees are on the rise. We have seen this problem occur multiple times already. Right now, the median fee is $4.23, which is ridiculously high. It may even result in a new all-time high. Not the good kind, though, that much is certain. Rest assured this development will spur a lot of new debates in the coming days and weeks.
Bitcoin transaction fees have become a major problem over the past two years. Even the introduction of SegWit doesn’t alleviate these concerns. Then again, a lot of wallets still have to enable default SegWit transactions these days. With the median transaction fee on the rise again, things are looking problematic. Right now the media fee is almost three times higher compared to two weeks ago. This sudden rise is quite worrisome, to say the very least.
Bitcoin Transaction Fees are on the Rise Again
As is always the case, there has to be an explanation. Miners artificially propping up fees by not including transactions is one option. A spam attack against Bitcoin could be another. Neither of these seems to be entirely valid, as there is no abundance of transactions either. These ups and downs on the charts have been visible all year. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary whatsoever. Nor is the mempool clogged up in any significant manner, either, although things looked a bit worse last night.
Regardless of the reason, the fees are rising. It is a very big problem that makes Bitcoin look less appealing. Spending a few bucks to move Bitcoin isn’t competitive by any means. In fact, it doesn’t even make it more appealing than most altcoins in this regard. Solving this issue will not happen with SegWit2x either. That is, assuming this hard fork will effectively be mined. Given some recent developments, that may or may not be the case in the end.
We can only hope the transaction fees return to normal soon. More importantly, they need to stay low for the foreseeable future. Until every service provider uses SegWit by default, that will not happen. No one knows how long this will take moving forward. We can only make Bitcoin work if everyone gets on the same page at the same time. Right now, that is not happening. With a fractured Bitcoin community, the future looks rather bleak in this regard.
Header image courtesy of Shutterstock
