Bitcoin Transactions Now Insanely Cheap (and fast)
Bitcoin transaction fees as low as $0.37 are being confirmed
Anyone involved in the crypto space would have witnessed the criticism Bitcoin has been facing over transaction prices and confirmation times over the past few months. Thanks to a few high profile Bitcoin Cash advocates, it’s been impossible to avoid the alleged ‘smear campaign’ against the top ranked cryptocurrency.
However knowledgable Bitcoin supporters have been pointing out for a while now that the high fees and slow confirmations were caused by an ever growing mempool. They’ve also been explaining that if more wallets simply implemented segwit, and if exchanges batched their transactions, the mempool would clear much faster. (There have also been claims of certain shady Bitcoin Cash enthusiasts maliciously spamming the mempool with tiny transactions, but we won’t get into that….)
Segwit adoption is growing
Segwit transactions now sit around the 10-15% level and seem to be increasing daily. A number of wallets (including Ledger and Trezor) have implemented segwit, along with some exchanges (Kraken, HitBTC). Other large exchanges like Coinbase are still dragging their feet.
Lightning is actually here
Bitcoin’s highly anticipated answer to scaling problems, Lightning Network, is currently live on mainnet and (so far) running smoothly. The feature allows for instantaneous, almost free transactions of Bitcoin through an off-chain network.
No more FUD?
It seems for now the Bitcoin naysayers are running out of ammo. Despite the common claims of old age, lack of use, and losing its edge to newer altcoins, Bitcoin boasts one of the largest, most experienced dev teams in the game. With no CEO, no promo campaigns and no flashy marketing, the recent BTC advancements have been taking place quietly behind the scenes.
