Ethereum Mining Revenue Soares to a New All-Time High
After attaining an all-time high of $2,500 per coin earlier this month, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is trading at a new all-time high over the $2,700 level following reports about European Investment Bank’s intentions to establish a “digital bond” sale on the Ethereum blockchain network.
Network data shows that Ethereum surpassed another previous milestone this month: the number of transactions eclipsed 40 million for the first time in one month.
High Transaction Fees
Ethereum miners helped acquire over $1.5 billion in revenue during April, surpassing the previous high of $1.38 billion reported in March. $702 million of the total figure was in transaction fees, or the funds paid to transact on the Ethereum network.
One of the most significant issues for the Ethereum network and its users is gas prices. The transaction fees have been rising steadily with the rising demand, and the fact miners are allowed to prioritize higher-paying users over others.
The gas price for a transaction hit a high in the third trimester of 2020, maintaining well into 2021, but that situation is changing. The cost of gas rose soon after the Berlin hard fork but has since fallen back to shallow levels in nearly a year. The network could attract more users with this trend, users that have been turning to other blockchains because of high prices.
New Peak
The price of ether has significantly fluctuated since it launched in 2015, just like many cryptocurrencies. In the beginning, its price was around $1, and it stayed there for several months.
The price reached $1,358 at the beginning of 2018, its highest price ever at the time. However, the price began to fall, and ether bottomed out at $83 by the third trimester of 2018.
The price has fallen back and flowed since then but has generally risen. Earlier in April 2020, the price was about $140. By April 29, it had climbed to $2,746, according to Coindesk. The price spiked by almost 2,000% in just over a year.
ETH 2.0 Updates
With the ETH 2.0 upgrade well underway, the switch to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) would phase out miners. Attempting to save the Ethereum mining community, a group identified as the Ethereum Genesys Foundation (EGF) successfully forked the chain to proceed with Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining. They named it “Maple Fork” and intend to produce a forked token called Ethereum Genesys (ETG). It is still uncertain if the group will thrive.
