Bitcoin Transaction Fees: Everything You Need to Know

Bitcoin transaction fees are cryptocurrency paid to miners in exchange for their work in adding blocks to the Bitcoin network. Whenever you’re conducting a transaction on the blockchain – whether it be with assets like BTC or collectibles such as Ordinals – you’re likely to run into these charges.

What Are Bitcoin Transaction Fees?

A transaction fee – sometimes known as miner fees, network fees or gas fees – is a variable amount of crypto that’s paid to miners to compensate them for mining new blocks. The fee can range based on how busy the network is or how large the transaction is, but the goal is the same: it is an incentive to include a transaction in the next block.

BTC fees play a pivotal role in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Bitcoin operates on a proof-of-work model, wherein miners around the globe use computational power (and a lot of electricity) to add blocks to the Bitcoin blockchain. The transaction fee paid by users serves as a compensation to these miners for utilizing their resources to expand and maintain the network.

Why Are Bitcoin Transaction Fees Necessary?

Transaction fees are integral to the security of the network, because they are one of two rewards miners receive for their work on adding blocks to the chain. The other is block rewards. These are a set number of BTC miners received in addition to transaction fees as part of their compensation. However, the 2024 Bitcoin halving saw these rewards chopped in half, down from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This has strengthened the role transaction fees play in compensating miners.

That said, the earnings from transaction fees for miners fluctuate. Consider BTC fees in the context of variable pricing for flights. The more popular the travel dates, the higher the prices spike for a ticket. A nonstop flight at a popular departure time may have a higher cost than a slower itinerary with multiple stops. Bitcoin transaction fees deal with similar market mechanisms. Miners, looking to maximize profit, often take the highest paying network fees first. This creates a scenario in which those paying the most tend to see their transactions completed first.

How Are Transaction Fees Determined?

Bitcoin transaction fees hinge on the data size of the transaction and the user's urgency. Each block on the Bitcoin blockchain is limited to a maximum data size of 4MB, so larger transactions that contain more data (such as inscriptions) incur higher fees. Users who need their transactions processed swiftly have the option to pay a higher fee.

This increased payment acts as an incentive for miners, ensuring that these transactions are prioritized. Because of these variables, BTC fees are subject to fluctuation.

Transaction Fees on Layer 2 Networks

Layer 2 (L2) networks operate a little differently. A key element of L2s like Stacks, Rootstock and Lightning is that they are designed to facilitate transactions off-chain from Bitcoin, which increases speed and decreases overall costs. As a generalization, those savings are passed on to users – L2 transaction fees tend to be lower than those on L1.

Take the Stacks layer, for example. When you use apps on the Stacks L2, you pay a small fee in their token (STX) as a reward to miners for maintaining the network. According to the Stacks documentation, “The fee is calculated based on the estimate fee rate and the size of the raw transaction in bytes.” These fees are significantly lower than the typical transaction fee on Bitcoin. 

It’s important to note that because Stacks is secured by Bitcoin, these fees are paid to Stacks miners. This is in contrast with Ordinals, where the BTC fees are paid to Bitcoin miners, since Ordinals are inscribed directly on the blockchain.

Bitcoin Transaction Fees with Leather

Popular Bitcoin wallets like Leather help users automate the network fee process. Leather offers users three fee-related settings for conducting transactions: “Low”, “Standard”, and “High”.

Regardless of which setting you use, the fee amounts are dynamic and are based on network congestion at the time. Leather also provides the option for users to voluntarily increase the fee, a useful feature for those needing immediate transaction processing.