Ethereum fees higher than Bitcoin’s for two months

According to a post made by Crypto data aggregator Messari, ETH fees have been higher than Bitcoin fees for two straight months now as of October 8

Messari, the crypto data and metrics platform, shared the news via a tweet yesterday, saying it was the longest streak that we’ve seen the Ethereum network take in more fees than Bitcoin.

Transaction fees on the ETH network fees catapulted to new all-time highs in August when DeFi gained momentum. In September, the fee hit a high of over $11.

The average transaction fee for the Ethereum network has since seen an 82% dip, falling from $11.61 (September 2) to $2.09 (October 4). Experts attribute the sharp fall to the DeFi hype bursting its bubble in recent weeks.

Data from Glassnode also confirmed that ETH miners have witnessed a decline in earnings from fees over the last couple of weeks. The miners earned 42,763 ETH ($14.97 million) in fees on September 17, but that figure has since dropped to 5,898 ETH ($2.06 million) on October 4. Currently, the average Ethereum fee is about $2.

The rise in transaction costs triggered an intense debate in the ETH community with the main concern being how the network should adjust in the interim prior to the fruition of ETH 2.0. While it is a record streak for the ETH network, the network’s fee market reform proposal (EIP-1559) still has a long way to go.

EIP-1559 recommends that the network’s fee market adopt a set rate network fee for blocks individually, including a tip for miners. A portion of the fees would be burned as per the congestion levels when the block is created.

Yesterday, Tim Beiko, a developer from ConsenSys, published the results from a survey that included 25 teams building on Ethereum on the subject of the fee reform proposal. 60% of the survey participants were in favour of the idea, whereas 13% opposed it.

“The main benefits that projects see with EIP-1559 are the predictability of gas prices, especially for projects who set them for their users, and the fact that ETH is burnt in each transaction,” he posted.