Daily transaction fees on Ethereum hit $564,000 amid network congestion on Thursday

Thursday's ethereum network congestion – perhaps unsurprisingly – resulted in a significant uptick in the total number of fee payments during a 24-hour period.

According to data collected by The Block, roughly $564,000 in ETH was paid by transactors over the course of March 12. A transaction fee is paid in order to give users transaction priority on the network; the higher your fee, the higher its likelihood of being included in the next block.

Thursday saw a considerable spike in gas fees to well over 100 Gwei from about 12 the previous day, as previously reported. This fee spike coincided with substantial liquidations of ETH amid a wider crypto market decline.

March 12 saw the most fees paid in a single day for 2020, and the highest day of its kind since February 2019. 

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The amount of Ethereum transaction fees paid eclipsed the amount paid by bitcoin users, which came in at $298,000. Still, bitcoin fees show a trend of a steady increase in the last few days. 

Data compiled by The Block shows that the number of liquidations on Compound hit its highest level ever yesterday, with the majority of those liquidations in the form of ETH. At the time of data collection, $4.19 million in ETH and roughly $120,000 worth of the USDC stablecoin had been liquidated in that 24-hour period. 

About Author

Aislinn Keely is a reporter on The Block's policy team holding down the legal beat. She covers court decisions, bankruptcies, regulatory actions and other key moments in the legal sphere, putting them in context for the wider crypto industry. Before The Block, she lent her voice to the NPR affiliate WFUV and helmed Fordham University's student newspaper. Send tips or thoughts on all things policy and legal to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter for updates @AislinnKeely.