Share this article

Ethereum Transaction Fees Hit Record Highs as Ether, DeFi Coins Soar

The average Ethereum transaction fee has passed $20 for the first time.

By William Foxley

Na-update Set 14, 2021, 12:06 p.m. Published Peb 4, 2021, 9:02 a.m. Isinalin ng AI

Fees for transacting on the Ethereum network breached previous records, passing above $20 for the first time Thursday.

Ipagpatuloy Ang Kwento Sa Baba

Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the The Protocol Newsletter today. Tingnan ang Lahat ng mga Newsletter

Sa pamamagitan ng pag-sign up, makakatanggap ka ng mga email tungkol sa mga produkto ng CoinDesk at sumasang-ayon ka sa aming terms of use at patakaran sa privacy.

As of 05:45 UTC (12:45 a.m. ET), the average and median transaction fee on Ethereum reached as high as $23.43 and $11.77, respectively, data from Blockchair indicates.

Ethereum last broke its transaction fee record a month ago on Jan. 11, hitting an average $19 per transaction. Current values double the peak transaction fees recorded during the "DeFi summer" of 2020.
The increase in fees correlates with the general price run ether has enjoyed since the New Year. The CoinDesk 20 places year-to-date returns on the digital asset at 130%.
The increase in the cost of transacting on the Ethereum network also reflects growing demand for ERC-20 based tokens, particularly stablecoins and the red-hot decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.
Led by tokens like uniswap (UNI) and aave (AAVE), DeFi's total market capitalization is up 16.37% in 24 hours, according to Messari.
Ethereum miners have been a primary beneficiary of the fee spike. The industry earned some $830 million in ether last month with 40% attributed from fees alone.

Transaction Fees Ethereum Markets DeFi

William Foxley

Will Foxley is the host of The Mining Pod and publisher at Blockspace Media. A former co-host of CoinDesk's The Hash, Will was the director of content at Compass Mining and a tech reporter at CoinDesk.