In the past week, the Bitcoin network has made progress in resolving congestion issues. On May 7, 2023, the number of unconfirmed transactions reached an all-time high of over 500,000 transfers, causing a huge backlog. However, as of today, that number has dropped to 263,406. Currently, 184 blocks need to be cleared to process the majority of transactions still stuck in the network’s memory pool.
Ease of congestion on the Bitcoin network
The long queue for transactions is finally easing as bitcoin miners start to catch up on some of the backlog. As we reported three days ago, Bitcoin.com News has noticed the beginning of a decongestion process, with unconfirmed transactions dropping from over 500,000 on May 7 to just over 300,000 on Thursday, May 11.
According to mempool.io stats, high priority transactions were priced at $3 per transfer, while low priority transactions cost $2.23 per transfer at that time. current stats On May 14, it showed that onchain fees have dropped significantly on the Bitcoin blockchain over the past three days. Just a few days ago, the high priority transaction cost was $3, but today, that fee has dropped to $0.83.
The price for a medium priority transfer is now $0.79, while a low priority transaction can cost around $0.75. This is a huge improvement, as the high-priority onchain fee has dropped by 72.33% over the past 72 hours. Additionally, the number of unconfirmed transactions stuck in the queue dropped to 263,406, just over half of what it held on May 7.
Lightning network capacity and reduced channels
On May 9, the number of transactions was there 413,420, which means that 36.28% of the backlog has been settled in the past five days. While fees spiked to nearly $30 per transaction on May 7 and have been very volatile lately, the Lightning network capacity She didn’t get better. In fact, a number BTC Locked in Lightning Network down from 5463 BTC On May 5 to today capacity 5415 BTC On May 14th.
The drop indicates that approximately $1.28 million in value has left the Lightning Network in the chaos of the transaction backlog. On May 8, the Lightning Network bragged 73352 unique channels. However, this number has since decreased to the current one 71286 unique channels. As measured by mempool.space’s Lightning Network, that’s approximately 5057 BTC in capacity on clearnet, while 253 BTC of capacity using Tor. The remaining Lightning Network capacity is marked “Other”.
What are your thoughts on recent developments in the Bitcoin network and the capacity of the Lightning Network? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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