The number of unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions on the blockchain is currently at 400,000, while fees associated with Bitcoin transactions are relatively high.
According to a CryptoQuant analyst, the Bitcoin network is facing a problem due to a popular new “token” standard, which has resulted in a surge in fees and a backlog of transactions. As a result, the value of BTC has fallen to $27,618.
On May 9th, Axel Adler Jr., an analyst working for a crypto data company, stated that the surge in demand for block space is due to the minting of BRC-20 memecoins on the BTC blockchain. Adding:
“Unlike conventional token standards, such as Ethereum’s ERC-20, BRC-20 does not utilize smart contracts and operates only with wallets supporting the Bitcoin blockchain.”
Bitcoin and its rising transaction fee
According to Bitinfocharts, there was a significant increase in the average transaction fee, which rose to $31 on May 8 from about $19 on the previous day. Moreover, on May 8, the total fees per block surpassed the block subsidy reward of 6.25 BTC for the first time since 2017.
On May 9, Bitinfocharts reported a new record high on the seven-day moving average for the number of Bitcoin transactions, reaching a peak of 534,000.
Bitinfocharts has reported two spikes over 600,000 daily transactions using raw values this month, indicating that the actual figure could be higher than the reported 534,000 transactions. On May 9th, Bitinfocharts recorded 598,000 Bitcoin blockchain transactions.
The data reported by Blockchain.com confirms that the average number of transactions per block has reached an all-time high of 3,778.
Mempool Space has reported that there are 400,000 unconfirmed transactions pending on the network, resulting in a backlog that is keeping transaction prices high. Additionally, on May 9th, the market capitalization of BRC-20 tokens exceeded $1 billion, according to Cointelegraph.
The severity of the issue has led Bitcoin core developers to consider taking action against BRC-20 tokens and Ordinals, which they view as network spam.
The number of ordinal inscriptions has increased significantly, nearly doubling from 2.5 million to 4.78 million in slightly over a week. However, the surge in the hash price or profitability since the start of the month has been a positive development for miners, with a 66% increase.