Bitcoin Transaction Counts Rise, but Fees Remain a Small Share of Miner Revenue
Bitcoin’s reported transaction count climbed to new highs in 2026, but transaction fees still made up only a small share of miners’ gross revenue. That gap matters as future halvings cut newly issued bitcoin, the other major source of miner income.
- Reported daily transactions topped earlier records.
- Average fees were reported at about 492 satoshis, or $0.41.
- Firsthand put fees at 0.6% of gross miner revenue during the period it examined.
- Binance Pool’s planned closure could shift hashrate, though the outcome is uncertain.
More transactions, but not necessarily more demand for block space
From January 1 through September 28, 2026, Bitcoin averaged 578, 000 transactions a day, beating the previous annual record of roughly 525, 000 in 2024. Over the 30 days through October 14, the reported average rose to 701, 660 confirmed transactions a day, about 49% above the comparable period a year earlier.
Fees did not rise with the transaction count. The average transaction fee through September 29 was about 492 satoshis, compared with 1, 140 in 2025 and 4, 019 in 2024. A satoshi is one hundred-millionth of a bitcoin. The reported $0.41 equivalent comes without a price timestamp, so treat it as an estimate, not a fixed conversion.
The figures do not identify the data provider or say whether “average fee” means a mean or a median. They also do not specify whether the 2024 and 2025 comparisons cover the same dates as the 2026 figure. Those details matter when comparing annual fee averages.
Transaction counts do not directly measure competition for block space. A transaction’s size and the activity it represents affect how much block capacity it uses. Batching, for example, can combine payments into fewer transactions. Fees tend to rise when users compete to get transactions confirmed, not simply when the transaction count increases.
Average active addresses fell 12% year over year, from 729, 972 to 644, 263. Address counts offer a rough measure of activity, not a count of people or users. One person can use multiple addresses, and an address can be used in different ways. The figures do not explain why the transaction count rose as this measure declined.
Fees are a small slice of miners’ gross revenue
Miners earn transaction fees and the block subsidy, newly issued bitcoin awarded for producing a block. Firsthand reported that fees accounted for 0.6% of gross mining revenue during the period it examined. It did not specify the dates or calculation method.
Separately, over the 30 days through October 14, miners collected approximately 88.6 BTC in fees, compared with 13, 884 BTC in newly issued coins. That puts fees at about 0.63% of the combined bitcoin amounts. This compares revenue components, not profit. It does not account for electricity, hardware, financing, or the market value of rewards.
Low fee revenue alone does not mean mining is unprofitable. It does show that newly issued bitcoin remained by far the larger of the two revenue components during the reported period.
Why future halvings put the fee market in focus
After the April 2024 halving, the block subsidy fell to 3.125 BTC per block. It is expected to drop to 1.5625 BTC after the next halving, anticipated in 2028. Each halving cuts the number of new bitcoins paid to miners per block.
As the subsidy declines, transaction fees may become more important to miners’ revenue and to the incentives supporting network security. These figures do not show whether fees will eventually grow enough to offset lower subsidies. They do show that higher transaction counts alone are no evidence that this shift is already underway.
Binance Pool’s planned closure adds a concentration question
Binance announced that it would discontinue Binance Pool and related services on November 10, 2026. Miners using the service would need to redirect their computing power to another pool to keep mining through a pooled service.
A mining pool coordinates participants’ computing power and distributes proceeds under its own arrangements. Moving to another pool does not mean a miner has stopped mining. But where that hashrate, the computing power used to mine Bitcoin, ends up could change the distribution of pool shares.
Foundry USA, AntPool, and F2Pool together accounted for approximately 64% of Bitcoin’s network hashrate in the reported estimate. The estimate’s date and data provider were not specified. Pool share is not the same as owning miners or permanently controlling hashrate. The effect of Binance Pool’s closure will depend on where its participants go. A shift toward the largest remaining pools could increase concentration, but that is not a foregone conclusion.
Key questions about Bitcoin fees and mining
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Did Bitcoin’s reported transaction count rise?
Yes. It averaged 578, 000 transactions a day from January 1 through September 28, 2026, and 701, 660 confirmed transactions a day over the 30 days through October 14.
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Did reported fees rise with transaction counts?
No. The reported average through September 29 was about 492 satoshis, below the figures given for 2025 and 2024.
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Does low fee revenue mean mining is unprofitable?
No. Profitability also depends on reward values and operating costs, including electricity, hardware, and financing. Mining difficulty changes can also reflect pressure on less competitive miners.
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Why do halvings make fees more significant?
Halvings reduce the block subsidy, which could make fees a more important part of miners’ revenue over time.
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Will Binance Pool’s closure concentrate mining?
It could if miners move to the largest pools, but the result depends on where they redirect their computing power.
