As bitcoin’s price experiences increased volatility, the mempool is becoming congested with a high volume of unconfirmed transactions. At the time of writing, 134,986 unconfirmed transactions are pending confirmation, and block times exceed the usual ten-minute duration. Sl...
As bitcoin’s price experiences increased volatility, the mempool is becoming congested with a high volume of unconfirmed transactions. At the time of writing, 134,986 unconfirmed transactions are pending confirmation, and block times exceed the usual ten-minute duration.
Slower block intervals and declining global hashrate
On Wednesday morning, there was a decline in Bitcoin’s global hashrate within the past 24 hours, now slightly above 300 exahash per second (EH/s). Consequently, block intervals have slowed, surpassing the average ten-minute mark. The most recent block took ten minutes and 50 seconds for validation.
Bitcoin’s price initially breached the $30,000 level earlier today but fell to a low of $27,242 by 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on April 26, 2023. Since then, the price has climbed back into the $28,000 range. Meanwhile, the mempool remains congested with transactions awaiting confirmation.
Mempool dynamics and transaction fees
The Bitcoin network’s mempool serves as a holding area for unconfirmed transactions that need to be included in the upcoming blockchain block. Each transaction in the mempool has its own transaction ID, fee, and other relevant details. Miners prioritize transactions with higher fees, so users often compete by raising fees to expedite their transaction confirmations.
Data from the web portal mempool.space at 4:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday shows 134,986 unconfirmed transactions. Transaction fees vary: no-priority transactions cost 2 sat/vB or $0.08 per transaction, low-priority transactions are 29 sat/vB or $1.15 per transfer, and high-priority transactions stand at 35 sat/vB or $1.38 per transfer.
Bitinfocharts.com provides further information, indicating that today’s average transaction fee is 0.000072 BTC or $1.99 per transaction, while the median transaction fee is 0.000035 BTC or $0.97 per transaction.