Bitcoin transaction fees have remained below $7 since June 9, 2024, and have recently dropped to under $3 in the past five days. Despite this decrease in fees, there are still over 200,000 unconfirmed transactions waiting to be processed, as the backlog has not been cleared since October 2023.
The fee market on the Bitcoin network is struggling to keep up with the increasing demand. Currently, the average transaction fee is around 22.3 satoshis per virtual byte (sats/vB), which is equivalent to $2.67 per transaction. On June 27, a high-priority transfer costs approximately 10 sats/vB, or about $0.86 per transaction, according to data from mempool.space. Fees have generally been decreasing since April, although there was a temporary increase in the fee market on June 7.
On that specific date, the average transaction fee reached $83.74, as reported by bitinfocharts.com. Mempool.space's archived data from the same day shows a high-priority fee of approximately 315 satoshis per virtual byte (sats/vB), which amounts to $30.51 per transaction. During that time, the mempool was significantly congested, with over 300,000 unconfirmed transactions in the preceding weeks.
Despite the decrease in transaction fees, the backlog has consistently remained above the 200,000 threshold since June 16, and was even higher before that date. Data indicates that the network has not experienced a backlog of less than 20,000 transfers since February 12, 2023. There was a brief period of clearing in October and November 2023, when the mempool had fewer than 45,000 unconfirmed transactions.
Although the backlog is substantial, it highlights the fact that the network's available block space capacity is unable to meet the demand. This situation emphasizes the ongoing challenges of scalability and efficiency, thus highlighting the need for potential protocol improvements or wider adoption of scaling solutions to enable smoother transaction processing. Despite the persistent demand for block space, the fee market has not kept pace, leading to questions about whether the network will ever be able to fully clear.
What are your thoughts on the Bitcoin network's transaction backlog? Feel free to share your opinions and thoughts on this matter in the comments section below.