'Bitcoin is not under attack:' BTC maxis allay fears of a DoS offensive
A sudden spike in Bitcoin (BTC) transaction fees and unconfirmed transactions sparked concern on Crypto Twitter over the weekend of a potential Denial of Service (DoS) "attack" on the network.
Some Bitcoin analysts and commentators have been quick to allay these fears from their respective followers.
Bitcoin average transaction fees are currently $19.20, or 0.00068 BTC, according to BitInfoCharts. Meanwhile, according to Mempool Space, the backlog of transactions currently stands at 459,341.
The increased demand on the network has even caused total fees per block to temporarily exceed the block subsidy reward of 6.25 BTC on May 7.
BITCOIN TRANSACTION FEES HAVE SURPASSED THE BLOCK SUBSIDY COINBASE REWARD6.76 BTC vs 6.25 BTCFIRST TIME SINCE 2017 pic.twitter.com/F0PKrlFYmQ
The proof-of-work mining process has a set block subsidy of 6.25 BTC which halves every four years. However, in the rare instance that block space demand surges, this figure can be exceeded causing higher transaction fees.
Industry analysts reported that it is the first time this has happened since 2017. Fees of 6.76 BTC were recorded for one block and block 788695 generated fees of 6.7 BTC.
The Mempool Space explorer shows that activity has since cooled down a little and fees have fallen back below the block reward again. The next block is expected to be processed generating 4.51 BTC in fees.
The surge in activity and block space demand has been attributed to the rise in Ordinals inscriptions. According to analytics provider Glassnode, a total of 75% of Bitcoin on-chain transactions used Taproot on May 7 resulting in a record high.
Some on Crypto Twitter, however, speculated that the recent congestion has resulted from a DoS (denial of service) attack on the
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