Bitcoin (BTC) Gas Skyrocketing as Trader Spends $3.14 Million in Fees

The once-concerning surge in Bitcoin (BTC) gas fees might be returning to the network as a gas-guzzling trader just paid 83.65 BTC worth $3.14 million for a single transaction. This transaction was spotted by the crypto analytics platform BitinfoCharts and is associated with the Bitcoin wallet with the tag “bc1qyf…”

According to the details, the transaction took place at block height 818087. The whale reportedly imputed 139.42495946 BTC worth $5.23 million as the intended amount to send, and the received funds turned out to be 55.76998378 BTC, leaving the difference of 83.65 BTC as the expended fees.

This kind of massive transaction fee is rare but not uncommon considering the fact that the network has no specific quote as the fee that users pay when transacting.

While it remains unknown whether the massive gas fee implies a return of related bogus charges, retail holders have continually bemoaned the relatively high cost of using the Bitcoin network. The emergence of ordinal inscriptions and BRC-20 tokens contributed to the surge in BTC gas fees earlier in the year.

Correcting Bitcoin transaction costs

Bitcoin is relatively more expensive to use, and while it may offer enormous freedom compared to legacy traditional financial systems, this gas consideration has placed an embargo on its uses to an extent.

To resolve this, the Lightning Network, a Layer-2 scaling solution was introduced to take care of the gas fee as well as the speed of transactions on the Bitcoin network, with visible milestones to show. Lightning Network is changing the game in more ways than one, and many trading platforms, including Coinbase Global Inc, have revealed plans to integrate the technology to help bolster its payment offerings.

This move by Coinbase has been commended by veteran investment banker Cathie Wood, a long-term advocate and proponent of Bitcoin who noted that the tech will help bolster the mainstream adoption of the cryptocurrency.

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