Bitcoin transaction fees have hit multi-year lows despite the price hovering around $100,000.

Hash Rate (Glassnode)

What you need to know:

• Bitcoin hash rate has reached an all-time high of 833 EH/s on a seven-day moving average.
• Bitcoin transaction fees have reached multi-year lows.

Bitcoin (BTC) hashrate has reached another all-time high, with the seven-day moving average rising to 833 exahashes per second (EH/s), according to Glassnode. That’s up 9% from 767 EH/s over the past few days.

According to Miner Mag, pre-orders for mining hardware have begun to decline after a pre-halving surge. Many mining companies stocked up on equipment in anticipation of the event, ensuring their operations would remain competitive; however, analysts now expect hashrate growth to slow.

Hashrate measures the computing power used to secure the Bitcoin network through mining, and a higher hashrate means a more secure network.

According to The Miner Mag, the network has seen significant growth in hashrate over the past 18 months, largely driven by institutional investment in mining infrastructure.

The spike came ahead of Bitcoin’s April 2024 halving, which occurs roughly every four years and reduces the block reward by 50%. Since the halving, the hashrate has increased by more than 40%, indicating continued expansion of mining operations.

The growth in hashrate has coincided with relatively stable mining profitability in recent months. One of the main reasons for this is historically low transaction fees, which have reduced miners’ income.

In the Bitcoin mempool, a high priority transaction costs just 5 sat/vB ($0.69) — ONE of the lowest fee levels in recent years. With fewer transactions generating fees, miners earn less in transaction fees, making it harder to offset operational costs.

The long-term economic model of the Bitcoin network is based on transaction fees gradually replacing block subsidies as the main source of income for miners, but current market dynamics call this model into question.

Looking ahead, the next difficulty adjustment is scheduled in four days and is expected to increase by over 6%, reaching an all-time high and putting additional pressure on miners.

Disclaimer: Portions of this article were generated by artificial intelligence tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards . For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy .