Bitcoin Transaction Fees Hit 2025 High as Miner Revenues Drop and Daily Activity Falls

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20.05.2025 80 times read 1 Comments Read out

Bitcoin Transaction Fees Reach New Yearly High Amid Market Volatility

According to BTC Echo, Bitcoin transaction fees have surged to a new yearly high in 2025. After reaching a low in January, the average cost for a BTC transaction climbed to $2.40 last week, marking the highest level seen this year. This increase comes as the Bitcoin price hovers around the $103,000 mark, with a temporary spike to $106,850 before correcting to $103,200 in the early morning hours.

The rise in transaction fees is a positive development for the mining industry, which has been grappling with declining revenues since the fourth halving. In April 2024, miners earned nearly $110,000 per exahash, but this figure has since dropped to $54,000 per exahash. Mining companies primarily generate income through the block reward, which includes both the block subsidy—halved in April—and transaction fees. As user demand increases, so do the fees, providing some relief to miners facing reduced block subsidies.

Metric Value Source
Average BTC Transaction Fee (last week) $2.40 TheBlock
BTC Price (current) $103,200 BTC Echo
BTC Price (overnight high) $106,850 BTC Echo
Miner Revenue per Exahash (April 2024) $110,000 Glassnode
Miner Revenue per Exahash (current) $54,000 Glassnode
Daily Transactions (April 22 high) 507,000 BTC Echo
Daily Transactions (recent) 330,000 BTC Echo

Interestingly, while transaction fees have increased, the average number of daily transactions has dropped significantly. From a peak of 507,000 on April 22, daily transactions have fallen by 35% to 330,000. This unusual combination suggests that higher fees may be discouraging smaller transactions, or that network activity is consolidating into fewer, larger transactions.

  • Rising transaction fees benefit miners by partially offsetting reduced block rewards.
  • Decreasing daily transaction counts may indicate shifting user behavior or fee sensitivity.
  • Despite the recent increase, on-chain transaction fees remain historically low compared to pre-halving levels, which exceeded $40 at times.
  • For everyday payments, Layer-2 solutions like the Lightning Network are already viable alternatives to avoid high on-chain fees.
"With ongoing Bitcoin adoption, transaction costs are likely to rise significantly in the long term, making Layer-1 transactions increasingly unattractive." — BTC Echo

BTC Echo also notes that users can protect themselves from rising fees through effective UTXO management, and that the current environment still offers relatively affordable on-chain transactions compared to historical peaks. However, as adoption grows, the trend points toward higher costs and a greater need for off-chain solutions.

Key Takeaways
  • Bitcoin transaction fees have reached a yearly high of $2.40.
  • Miner revenues per exahash have dropped from $110,000 in April to $54,000 currently.
  • Daily transactions have decreased by 35% since April 22.
  • Layer-2 solutions are recommended for everyday payments to avoid high fees.

Source: BTC Echo

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I think a lot of people in the comments are talking about how these higher fees are only really affecting people making small or frequent transactions, but no one seems to have mentioned how awkward it can get for businesses actually trying to use Bitcoin for anything but holding or big payments. I've got a couple friends who run online stores and they told me it's getting harder to justify accepting BTC at all when fees are so unpredictable—even if $2.40 is still nothing compared to those $40+ wild swings from a couple years back. But you never really know when that'll spike again, especially if the hype returns or something major happens in crypto land.

Also, I noticed people are saying Layer-2 like Lightning fixes it all, but that’s really not as easy to set up for the average business owner. There’s a bit of a learning curve and you gotta lock up funds and trust that the channels stay open, which just adds a new set of headaches. Plus, as far as I know, you’re still exposed to some on-chain fees if you have to close or open a channel, so it doesn’t totally go away for everyone.

And tbh, this fall in daily transactions is kinda weird. It’s not just fees—there’s something going on with the market mood, maybe people just aren’t moving as much as they did during all the hype in April. Or maybe folks are getting smarter and batching transactions more (or plain giving up on sending small amounts). Hard to say, but if Bitcoin is supposed to be this “global payments network,” fewer people actually using it on-chain doesn’t look great.

Don‘t get me wrong, I‘m still positive on Bitcoin long term and I get why miners need those fees to survive after halving slashed their rewards, but I seriously doubt we’ll see normal people messing around with on-chain payments much, unless all the L2 solutions become totally seamless and invisible in the end. Until then, it feels like BTC is just kinda drifting away from being “peer to peer cash” for most of us out there. Just my two sats.
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