DeutschWho Receives the Transaction Fees for Bitcoin?
A fundamental question is who actually receives the Bitcoin transaction fees. If we illustrate that the transaction fee is often referred to as a mining fee, it becomes clear who receives the transaction fees, namely the miner. Specifically, the miner who confirms the transaction first receives the fees.
What is the Transaction Fee Used for?
The transaction fee is a kind of expense fee, as it is intended to compensate the respective miner for the effort involved in confirming the transaction. This financial expense that each miner has consists in particular of the following components:
- Hardware costs
- Software costs
- Electricity costs
It is important to know that the respective transaction fees can be added to each transfer of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency that takes place between two addresses. However, the fees are not mandatory, so they do not necessarily have to be charged. The miner receives the fees after a new block has been created and the transaction has been confirmed. The speed of the transaction is closely linked to the transaction fees. In principle, it is possible not to pay any fees and still have the transaction executed. As a rule, however, the execution of a transaction takes a relatively long time in this case, while paid transactions that include a transaction fee are usually executed or confirmed immediately.
What are the Bitcoin Transaction Fees?
Now that you know who receives the Bitcoin transaction fees, what they are used for and under what conditions fees are charged at all, the question now is how high the Bitcoin transaction fees actually are. Of course, this can only be an average fee, as there are no regulations as to how high the fees may or must be. According to estimates, Bitcoin transaction fees in the last quarter of last year (2017), for example, averaged 16 US dollars for the next free block. In retrospect, this is already a considerable increase, as the fee for the next free block was only 15 cents at the end of 2016. At the end of last year, Bitcoin transaction fees even rose to almost 100 dollars. However, transaction fees have fallen significantly again since the price slumps in January 2018.
