Bitcoin Network Struggles With High Traffic and Soaring Fees

As of Sunday, May 7, 2023, the Bitcoin network is experiencing a major traffic jam due to an overwhelming number of unconfirmed transactions. The latest statistics reveal that a whopping 390,000 transfers are currently stuck in limbo, waiting for confirmation. This surge in unconfirmed transactions has resulted in a staggering 343% increase in transaction fees, which have risen from $1.99 to $8.80 in just two weeks.

To clear the current backlog, a whopping 179 blocks would need to be mined. Given the average block time of 10 minutes, it would take approximately 1.24 days to mine the required number of blocks. This backlog has caused transaction fees to skyrocket by a whopping 343%, which is the highest level in almost two years.

The congestion is due to the overwhelming number of unconfirmed transactions on the Bitcoin network, which has caused a bottleneck in the mempool. The mempool is the "waiting area" for incoming transactions before they are verified independently by each node on the network.

At the time of writing, there were nearly 400,000 unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions, which is higher than the bull runs during 2018 and 2021. The average transaction fee has also doubled since March, pushing it to a two-year high. The current transaction fee is just over $8, a 309% change from a year ago.