Key facts:
The percentage of commission income from miners fell to 34.25%.
Despite the drop in income, Ethereum miners remain active.
The commissions paid by each Ethereum user have been falling recently, which has led to a reduction in the income of the miners of this network.
According glass nodea firm dedicated to the analysis of different aspects of the world of cryptocurrencies, the percentage of profits that an Ethereum miner receives from commissions fell to 34.25%, its lowest point so far this month.
The fall in the collection of commissions for transactions or commissions for mining has an important role among the causes of this situation that Ethereum miners are going through.
In CriptoNoticias an article was published about it, in which it is mentioned that the average commission for sending a transaction in Ethereum was around USD 13.92, according to the price of ether (ETH) in the cryptocurrency market. This amount is the lowest recorded in the last five months.
According to data from The Block, the average fee cost per transaction so far in 2022 has fallen more than 50% from its peak. As can be seen in the following graph.
It is important to clarify that Ethereum miners receive an incentive for their work in verifying the validity of the transactions carried out, grouping them into what are known as “blocks” and adding said blocks to the chain (blockchain).
The miners’ reward consists of two parts: the new coins issued with each block mined and the commissions collected for each transaction that the block contains. There is the relationship between the payment of commissions and the earnings of the miners.
Low commissions: a blessing for some and a disgrace for others
When talking about cryptocurrency networks that use proof of work (PoW) as a consensus algorithm, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, among others, the cost of transaction fees is an issue that remains always relevant.
In CriptoNoticias, during the month of May of last year, an article was published comparing the profitability of Bitcoin and Ethereum mining. The cryptocurrency developed by Vitalik Buterin turned out to be the one that generated the most profits for miners. However, the same reason that made Ethereum the most profitable to mine also made it the the most expensive network for transactions.
It is difficult to achieve a balance in the cost of commissions and mining rewards that is attractive to both users and miners. However, at times when the balance has tipped in favor of either of these two sides, the network has not stopped.
Today, as the graph above shows, the hashrate of Ethereum has remained at the levels it has been showing for the last 30 dayseven though miners’ revenue from transaction fees has dwindled.