Bitcoin miner fees fall to 12-month low, underscoring long-term reliance on block subsidies
Bitcoin transaction fees hit a 12-month low, highlighting miners' current heavy dependence on the block subsidy.Summary
Bitcoin miner revenue is split between the block subsidy (currently 3.125 BTC per block, yielding about $45 million daily) and transaction fees (currently only about $300,000 daily, a 12-month low).
This disparity shows the network's current reliance on inflation-based rewards rather than fee-based sustainability, especially since transaction fees comprise less than 1% of total miner income. While protocols like Ordinals and Runes caused temporary fee spikes, the long-term economic model relies on either massive increases in transaction volume or significant Bitcoin price appreciation to compensate miners adequately after block subsidies end around 2140.
Although the subsidy phase-out is over a century away, persistently low fees raise concerns about future miner economics and network security if insufficient revenue causes hash rate declines.
(Source：The Block)