Rates for the Bitcoin Core network have reached their lowest level in seven years, with an average cost of sending BTC of $ 0.11. Although there are several reasons why BTC rates are low, one of them is obvious: fewer people are using the network. The number of daily transactions has sharply decreased since last year, and has continued to decline in the last month.
Lower Rates, Less Use
It is no secret that the number of transactions in the Bitcoin Core chain, along with those of other block chains, has fallen significantly since the end of 2017. This reflects the decline in the valuation of bitcoin core and most others digital currencies during this period. On December 14, almost half a million BTC transactions were registered in a single day. In February, this figure was below 200,000 a day. On April 24, the figure reached a maximum of 254,000, but since then it has decreased, reaching a minimum of 158,000 on May 26, according to Bitinfocharts.com.
In early April, the average transaction price of BTC fell to less than 10 satoshis per byte before rising to almost 40 satoshis by the end of the month. Yesterday, May 26, the average rate was again below 10 satoshis / byte once again. The average rate is taken as a metric more useful than the average rates, since, as Coinmetrics.io explains, "the figures of the average are generally much more informative for data such as rates or the value of the transaction, since the data are usually very (positively) skewed. "
BCH Still 3 Times Cheaper Than BTC To Make Transfers
On May 24, the number of BTC transactions using Segwit reached a historical high of 38%. This will have contributed to reducing the average of commissions, although many believe that Segwit's role in doing so has been exaggerated, with an evaluation that points to the role that the grouping of transactions has played in reducing commissions.
In the Bitcoin Cash network, rates reached their lowest level in three months on April 2, reaching an average of 0.0018 dollars. Now they are at 0.0038 dollars per transaction, a significant increase in the space of a month, but even so, it is three times cheaper than bitcoin core, which is at $ 0.113. When the commissions are unusually low, the astute BTC holders seize the opportunity to consolidate their unused transactional products (UTXOs). This is done by sending all the dust in your wallet to a BTC address that they control. In this way, when the bitcoin core rates inevitably rise again, they will be able to save money on tariffs because each transaction will contain fewer UTXOs, making it smaller and therefore cheaper.