News - Bitcoin miners' income explodes
Before the fourth Bitcoin Halving, transaction fees exploded and peaked at an average of $128. A new record high in BTC history. The halving's block contained a whopping 37,626 BTC in fees. That's about US$2.6 million, according to data from Mempool. Due to the high fees, Bitcoin miners were initially hardly affected by the reduction of the block subsidy from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
Transaction costs exploded at the Halving I Source: The Block
Currently, the cost of BTC is still at a high level. This is partly due to the newly launched Runes Protocol. Buying coffee through the main network could therefore become expensive.
The increased fees have likely pleased Bitcoin miners. Even before the halving, the industry was receiving more in fees than was being paid to stakers.
Miners earn about $70 million a day. Transaction fee revenues have skyrocketed since the Runes hype. According to the hashrate index, transaction fees now account for more than 50 percent of total block rewards.
Fee income has never been higher I Source: The Block
If fees remain high, this could provide relief - at least in part - to miners. However, the long-term effects of halving are not yet clear.