Ethereum’s daily transaction fees hits $6.8m

August 13, 2020
By Benson Toti

Average fees hit $7.40, the highest it has ever been, pushing total daily transaction fees to an all-time high of $6.83 million

The average and median transaction fees on the Ethereum network have hit all-time highs, as user activity driven by decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols surges.

According to data from Blockchair, the average fees paid per transaction on the network have spiked to $7.40. It is the highest fee ever paid since 2015.

Median transaction fees have also surged over the past three months, hitting historic levels today by reaching $3.92. The last time median transaction fees were this high was January 11, 2018 — when users paid about $2.59 per transaction.

The rising transaction fees have also meant that the total fees paid on the Ethereum network have increased significantly, surpassing those paid on the Bitcoin network. Most of the fees are generated from increased user activity related to the frenzy around DeFi. Uniswap and DeFi project Yam Finance has seen the most fees paid on Ethereum in the past 24 hours.

Total daily transaction fees rose to $6.83 million after miners earned 17,493 Ether from transaction fees.

According to on-chain data analytics firm CoinMetrics; total network fees on Ethereum have outpaced Bitcoin by more than $1 billion.

The skyrocketing fees on Ethereum means that miner revenue has surged, surpassing that from regular block rewards.

According to Glassnode, Ethereum fees have continued to surge over the last several weeks to see total miner revenue from hit new highs. More than 42% of revenue earned by Ethereum miners has come from fees. The chart below shows the total fee-related earnings by miners on a 24-hour moving average.

Network hashrate hits 2018 levels

Interest in DeFi has seen miner revenues soar as transaction fees increased, attracting more miners to the Ethereum network. The result is an increase in computing power deployed by miners to compete for the rewards, which has inevitably seen network hashrate climb to multi-month highs.

As of writing, the Ethereum network hashrate is hovering around 204, 993, 2998 GH/s, the highest level since November 2018.

Ethereum was trading at around $388, up by about 2% in the past 24 hours.