The average transaction volume of Bitcoin blocks has reached 2,250, and the transaction fee has exceeded $1

The Bitcoin network has been congested for some time, with blocks nearly full and the debate on capacity expansion at a stalemate. As Bitcoin's acceptance continues to grow and the media reports on the new highs in the price of the currency, the transaction volume in the Bitcoin network continues to rise. This has led to an increase in the fees paid by users, and only by continuously increasing the fee amount can their transactions be confirmed within a reasonable time.

Developers and users are aware of the challenge facing Bitcoin as transaction capacity approaches the block cap. Mining fees will also rise as more transactions compete for miners' computing power.

Although miners may profit from it, users need to pay higher transaction fees. So far, the handling fees have gradually increased and finally reached the standards of traditional financial institutions. The following figure shows the increase in Bitcoin transaction fees in the past two months:

(In the past two months) the average Bitcoin transaction fee has exceeded $1!

In addition, the number of transactions in existing blocks is also increasing. To be more precise, the average number of transactions per block is currently 2,250笔. This is an astonishing number, and increasing the block capacity is imminent.

In March 2016, the number of transactions in each block was about 1,250. At that time, people had already begun to think about how to increase the block capacity in preparation for the future. Today, the number of transactions in the Bitcoin network has been rising over time, which is a sign that this digital currency is becoming more and more popular, but it is also a potential risk.

However, some concerns about network congestion appear to be overblown. With an average of 2,250 transactions per block, it seems that there is no problem of full blocks to begin with. Remember, this number also includes blocks that do not contain any transactions, also known as "empty blocks." Therefore, this number also implies that some blocks have more than 2,250 transactions.

The most "necessary" method at present is to make full use of the available space to cram in as many transactions as possible. It will take some time for the Bitcoin block to expand, so it is necessary to ensure that transactions are confirmed as soon as possible. This is also a major challenge facing Bitcoin recently, as network congestion has increased.

It’s undeniable that Bitcoin has come a long way since its creation in 2009. If 100 transactions per block was once a milestone, then it’s definitely heading in the right direction. Reaching 2,250 transactions per block is a significant development, but whether there’s room for that number to go higher remains to be seen.

Finally, the popularity of Bitcoin will sooner or later force the implementation of a scaling solution in the network. Since the block size is fixed, 1 MB is no longer sufficient. The exact timing of the implementation of the scaling solution is difficult to predict, but support for Segregated Witness (SegWit) seems to be increasing.