{"id":109783,"date":"2020-11-11T07:55:08","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T04:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/bitcoin-fees-plummet-as-mempool-clears-to-zero\/"},"modified":"2020-11-11T07:55:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T04:55:08","slug":"bitcoin-fees-plummet-as-mempool-clears-to-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/bitcoin-fees-plummet-as-mempool-clears-to-zero\/","title":{"rendered":"# Bitcoin fees plummet as mempool clears to zero"},"content":{"rendered":"

“# Bitcoin fees plummet as mempool clears to zero <\/strong>”
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The Bitcoin network mempool<\/a> shrank to its smallest size since mid-October this week after the network\u2019s hash power soared. <\/p>\n

The clear mempool meant that that thousands of stuck transactions pending confirmation were included in recent blocks, leaving very few unconfirmed transactions still outstanding. <\/p>\n

The spike in hash power has been attributed to the re-activation of China-based miners who migrated from Sichuan after the end of the province\u2019s rainy season. Bitcoin\u2019s hash rate increased by 42% over a two day period, Nov. 9 and 10.<\/p>\n

A smaller mempool is good news<\/a> for regular Bitcoin users as it reduces competition among fresh transactions to get included in upcoming blocks. Reduced competition in the mempool helps to drive down Bitcoin transaction fees, as miners can potentially include all transactions in the mempool irrespective of their individual fee amounts.<\/p>\n

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Mempool cleared for the first time since October 20th in the weee morning hours. pic.twitter.com\/JWMs3NsK7v<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 (@murchandamus) November 10, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Average Bitcoin transaction fees reached a peak<\/a> of $13.16 per transaction on Oct. 30, when more than 140,000 transactions were pending in the mempool. The influx of new hash power over the weekend allowed Bitcoin blocks to be found faster than the benchmark speed of 10 minutes per block due to the network\u2019s relatively low mining difficulty. This allowed miners to reduce the number of unconfirmed transactions to zero on Nov. 9.<\/p>\n

As of this writing, there were app<\/a>roximately 6,000 transactions in the mempool with a media<\/a>n fee<\/a> of 3 satoshis per byte (sat\/byte) or roughly $0.11. Some users have reported<\/a> fees as low as 1 sat\/byte for transactions that have confirmed within a few hours.<\/p>\n

Mining difficulty is expected to increase upon the next adjustment to account for the network\u2019s increased hash power, which means the current respite from high fees may be short lived.<\/p>\n

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The mempool has cleared. Send ’em if you got ’em.#Bitcoin<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/XDmDquaUzS<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Clark Moody (@clarkmoody) November 10, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bitcoin transaction fees had been comparatively low through the second half of 2020. During the last week of October, the price of BTC consolidated above the $13,000 mark for the first time since December 2017 \u2014 coinciding with a massive increase in transactions being sent to the mempool and resulting in a backlog of unconfirmed transactions.<\/p>\n

With network activity subsiding over the course of a bullish week, Bitcoin users are being encouraged to take advantage of current conditions by performing transactions that may be too expensive to perform with higher fees, such as opening<\/a> Lightning Network channels and consolidating<\/a> inputs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n