Bitcoin mempool clogs up with 125K transactions waiting
While the number of Bitcoin transactions that can fit in a block remains the same, demand on the network is leading to rising transaction costs. The number of transactions waiting to be confirmed in the Bitcoin mempool surged briefly above 125,000 today. This represents the equivalent of roughly 149 megabytes worth of data waiting to be added to the blockchain, which is enough to fill at least 107 upcoming blocks.Although smaller than the spike that saw a 143,000+ transaction backlog on Dec. 17, 2020, the increasingly cluttered mempool is emboldening Bitcoin’s critics while providing forks....
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Amid continued highs in trading and price, Bitcoin’s transaction backlog is giving out warning signs of a network already at capacity. Data from Blockchain.info uploaded to Twitter by Chain engineer Tony Arcieri showed constant spikes in the Bitcoin mempool, the vat of unprocessed transactions waiting for confirmation. “The Bitcoin mempool, a buffer of unprocessed transactions, has been flaring up a lot now that the system is at capacity, only 4tps average,” Arcieri commented. Notably, the size of such transactions peaked around Feb. 23 at just under 75 mln bytes, before coming down....
Reduced mempool activity not only results in reduced fees but gives users a chance to perform transactions that may not otherwise be practical. The Bitcoin network mempool shrank to its smallest size since mid-October this week after the network’s hash power soared. The clear mempool meant that that thousands of stuck transactions pending confirmation were included in recent blocks, leaving very few unconfirmed transactions still outstanding. The spike in hash power has been attributed to the re-activation of China-based miners who migrated from Sichuan after the end of the province’s....
Bitcoin mining is an important part of the bitcoin ecosystem. Miners who participate in mempools help to confirm transactions for which they receive a reward once a transaction is cleared. Usually, the mempool is ‘free’ and transactions go through easily with low fees but there are times when the mempool fills up causing transactions fees to surge. This was what took place at the start of March. Bitcoin Transaction Fees Surge At the beginning of the month, bitcoin had experienced higher transaction fees. These higher fees were as a result of transaction clustering in the mempool. Once the....
Mempool.space is an open-source mempool visualizer and blockchain explorer for Bitcoin. It features real-time updates and live transaction tracking. The post Interview: Wiz And Simon Of Mempool.space appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.
The only viable way to bypass this backlog is for users to spend a higher transaction fee. However, that is not the "pushy" direction in which Bitcoin should evolve by any means. The past 24 hours have been somewhat turbulent for the Bitcoin ecosystem. With the number of unconfirmed transactions surpassing the 43,500 mark just over a day ago, things weren’t looking great. But it looks like the mempool is showing signs of a desperately needed decline in unconfirmed transfers. Another stark warning that the scalability of Bitcoin needs to be addressed today rather than tomorrow. It....