Bitcoin price rises 3% after fourth halving, transaction fees soar to average $146

According to U.Today, Bitcoin’s fourth halving has passed and its effects can already be seen, with the price rising by more than 3% since the event – a sign of impending growth, unlike past halvings. Compared to half. Historically, halvings have shown mixed reactions in the short term, but tend to show a bullish trend in the longer term. However, it's worth noting that there aren't enough past incidents to form a solid case. Over the weekend after the halving, Bitcoin’s network fees surged to a record average of $146, dwarfing Ethereum’s $3 fee. This surge in fees caught the community off guard, even though signals were already on the horizon. Much of this fee surge can be attributed to recent activity in the Bitcoin block space. The debut of Runes Protocol – a system designed to simplify the issuance of tokens on Bitcoin – follows in the footsteps of Ordinals Protocol and increases demand for the blockchain space. Both protocols involve recording data on Bitcoin blocks, similar to creating NFTs, thereby increasing the demand for block space and thus driving up transaction fees. Additionally, this fee increase may have been fueled by Runes as it drove greater demand, resulting in significant swings in fee levels over the weekend. The insane demand for block space translates directly into higher costs for executing transactions on the network. Despite the change in fees, Bitcoin’s perpetual swap funding rate has remained relatively neutral, suggesting that market sentiment is not heavily skewed in favor or against the price direction. Although the open rate has fallen from its peak in March, it remains above $10 billion.