Bitcoin network settling an average of $95K for every $1 in fees

The Bitcoin network’s value settlement efficiency has been improving steadily recently, with more being settled for lower fees.

Over the past week, the Bitcoin network has transferred or settled an average of $95,142 of value for every $1 worth of fees.

The on-chain settlement efficiency has been gradually increasing since May as more has been moved around the network during the bull cycle.

On-chain analyst Dylan LeClair made the observation using data from analytics provider Glassnode. The value is derived by dividing the mean transaction volume by the fees.

Over the last seven days the #Bitcoin Network transferred an average $95,142 of value for every $1 worth of fees.

The median transaction saw $751 of value transferred for every $1 worth of fees.#Bitcoin is the most efficient monetary settlement network the world has ever seen. pic.twitter.com/DzSwxCDKkd

— Dylan LeClair (@DylanLeClair_) November 29, 2021

The final settlement costs amounted to just 0.00105% of the total value transferred of $451.3 billion.

According to CryptoFees, Bitcoin is seventh in the list of networks ordered by daily transaction fees. Its seven-day average is around $678,000 which puts it behind Ethereum, Uniswap, Binance Smart Chain, SushiSwap, Aave, and Compound.

The fee tracking platform currently reports that Ethereum is currently processing $53 million in daily fees, 98.7% more than the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin and Ethereum should not be compared in terms of value settlement and fees as they are two different entities — the former is a store of value asset and the latter a smart contract and decentralized application network. 

Ethereum’s mean transaction volume divided by the fees comes out at just $139 in value transacted per dollar in fees.

The settlement efficiency of the Ethereum network has declined as more value has accrued to the network and a much greater demand has been put on it, especially with the rise of DeFi and NFTs over the past 18 months.

Related: Bitcoin network tags record high for daily settlement volume

According to Bitinforcharts, the average transaction fee on the Bitcoin network is around $2.13 at the moment. Comparatively, the Ethereum network’s average fee is a whopping $42.58. As reported by Cointelegraph yesterday, Bitcoin transaction fees are down by more than 50% this year.

The divergence in average transaction fees between the two networks can be seen widening from the end of July.

Ethereum’s network fee woes can be circumvented by using layer two networks which have surged in adoption over the past couple of months with a near all-time high total value locked of $6.87 billion according to L2beat.