BRC-20 Meme Coins Frenzy Spikes Bitcoin Network Fees

The recent shift of meme coins to the BRC-20 standard has changed Bitcoin’s network fees. More emerging meme coins flock to BTC’s BRC-20 standard as more coins emerge. 

Notably, the hype and frenzy about meme coins spiked due to the impressive performance of Pepe Coin (PEPE) and Wojak (WOJAK). The influx of these projects has congested the BTC network. As a result, BTC’s transaction fees surged to a multi-year peak.  

BRC-20 Tokens Fees Hit Multi-Year High

With the growing hype around meme coins, the activities surrounding the tokens within the Bitcoin network keep rising. According to the crypto data analytics platform Dune Analytics, the daily minting fees on BRC-20 hit a record high of 247 BTC on May 7. The value shows that the fees reached their highest level in two years.

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The cumulative fees paid on the Bitcoin Network crossed $3.5 million on May 3, surging by 400% from late April. The total fee for the BTC Ordinals was 641 BTC and data from YCharts shows that Bitcoin’s average transaction fee for May 7 hit $19.21. 

The number of BRC-20 tokens on the Bitcoin network has exceeded 14,000, with many being meme coins. The total market cap of these coins is over $952 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of over $10 million. 

The records and rising value of the BRC-20 tokens account for the recent spike in BTC Ordinals. Also, some NFTs contributed to the growth.

Congestion in Bitcoin Network Due To Increasing Shift To BRC-20 Standard

Before now, the Ethereum network had many ERC-20 tokens, including meme coins. This congestion slowed down transaction speed and other issues associated with network scalability.

However, the recent emergence of the BRC-20 model attracted several meme coins and other crypto assets to the Bitcoin blockchain. 

Pepe Coin is one of the leading meme coins that created the growing frenzy on BRC-20. PEPE has surged by over 600% within 7 days through its ongoing presale stages.

An on-chain data provider, Galaxy Research, reported that BRC-20 transactions accounted for 50% of total BTC transactions on May 2.

BRC-20 tokens are fungible tokens designed on the Bitcoin blockchain. They have great similarities to the ERC-20 token standard on the Ethereum network. However, the BRC-20 tokens have fewer features since there is no smart contract support on the Bitcoin network.

Due to the recent bullish trend on BTC transactions, the largest crypto exchange Binance halted BTC withdrawals temporarily on its platform. According to the exchange, the firm has issues with BTC withdrawals due to high transaction volume.

Featured image from Pixabay and chart from Tradingview.com