Recent data has shown that the current cycle of Bitcoin is the first in its history to deviate from an established pattern of transaction fees.

The Latest Cycle Has Lower Cumulative Fees

The on-chain analytics firm Glassnode has recorded only 53,800 BTC in cumulative fees since the last halving. The halving event occurs periodically, halving block rewards given to miners permanently, tightening production of the asset. Historically, bull markets have followed halvings which take place approximately every four years.

The halving event has become a popular way to define the start and end points of what constitutes a Bitcoin cycle or “epoch”. The cumulative transaction fees for each of the previous epochs and the current cycle so far are shown in the following chart:

However, the current epoch has deviated from the pattern, with only 53,800 BTC in fees so far. This amount is just one-third of the fees seen in the last cycle. Glassnode explains that this drop in fees is mainly driven by improvements in transactional efficiency such as SegWit and Transaction Batching that are widely adopted across the current epoch. It is unlikely the fee amounts will close the current large gap due to the upcoming halving event.

BTC Price

As of now, Bitcoin is trading around $27,100, representing a 2% increase in the past week.

The current cycle’s cumulative fees have been worth more than any other epoch in USD value.

Featured image from iStock.com, charts from TradingView.com, Glassnode.com