Bitcoin miners generated nearly $700 million in revenue in December, and Ethereum options holdings hit a new high

Bitcoin miners generated nearly $700 million in revenue in December, according to The Block Research.

Of the $693.2 million in revenue reported in December, $68.3 million came from transaction fees, which users pay miners to package their transactions so that their transactions have higher priority.

The December figure is the highest of 2020 and represents the most revenue generated in a given period since January 2018. In that month, Bitcoin miners brought in around $1 billion in revenue.

In early December, Bitcoin was trading at around $19,000, and then in early January the price of each Bitcoin exceeded $30,000.

Meanwhile, total open interest in Ethereum (ETH) options and futures broke records over the weekend.

Ethereum futures peaked at $2.65 billion on January 3, up 28.6% from the December peak. Binance holds the largest share at 23.8%, with OKEx in second place at 17.8% and Huobi in third at 14.4%.

Total open options interest on Ethereum also hit an all-time high on Sunday, reaching $1.22 billion, with Deribit holding the largest share at 86.8%.