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The Bitcoin network had a massive slowdown on May 7, 2023, due to an overwhelming 500,000 unconfirmed transactions. The good news is that as the congestion has cleared, on-chain costs have significantly decreased and are currently around $5. Just a little bit more than 300,000 transactions still need to be confirmed as of right now, and 185 blocks must be mined to eliminate the backlog.
Bitcoin Backlog Begins to Subside Gradually
Recently, the Bitcoin network has been the topic of conversation as it struggles to satisfy the demand for block space. The backlog of pending Bitcoin transactions, known as the mempool, reached an all-time high four days ago, with more than 500,000 unconfirmed transfers awaiting action.
This increase in demand can be ascribed to the current passion for Ordinal inscription and the development of the BRC20 token ecosystem. On May 11, 2023, at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time, slightly over 300,000 transactions were awaiting confirmation. To finish mining the 185 blocks required to clear the current transaction backlog.
The good news is that on-chain costs have dramatically decreased due to the backlog progressively resolving. The average transaction price jumped to $31 per transfer just a few days ago, on May 8. A high-priority transaction at 7:00 a.m. (ET) today, however, it cost just $3.00.
Over 90% less money is spent on each transaction as it drops from $31 to $3. According to current statistics, a low-priority transfer costs only $2.23, whereas a medium-priority transfer costs $2.65. The average block timings up to this point have been eight minutes and 28 seconds and nine minutes and 57 seconds, respectively.
According to current projections, the difficulty might rise on May 18 (seven days from now), when the global hashrate, which is now 342 exahashes per second (EH/s), is stable. The projected difficulty rise is expected to be around 0.1% to 1.94%.
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