Bitcoin Miners Have Raked in Abnormal Transaction Fees Since Halving: Bernstein
Since the recent halving of bitcoin (BTC), miners have earned an average of 19 BTC per block, over the standard block rewards, due to a spike in network fees that tripled revenue. This increase is attributed to speculative activity by retail traders to mint new tokens, primarily meme tokens. The launch of the Runes protocol, which allows people to etch and mint tokens on the chain, caused a surge in network fees on the Bitcoin blockchain. Total miner revenue is now approximately triple the pre-halving level, with daily revenues exceeding $100 million. However, this level of transaction fees is considered abnormal and may not be sustainable. Despite this, the fungible token market on the Bitcoin network remains largely untapped, with decentralized tokens and other utility tokens on the Ethereum network exceeding $200 billion. It is expected that 15% of miner revenues will be network transaction fees on a sustainable basis.
