Bitcoin
Bitcoin Is Busier Than Ever, but Bitcoin Mining Isn’t Getting Paid More
Oct 23, 2026, 06:48 UTC
Bitcoin
Oct 23, 2026, 06:48 UTC
Oct 23, 2026, 06:48 UTC3 min read
Bitcoin is processing more transactions than ever before on an annual basis, but the growing activity is doing little to improve one of the network’s most important revenue streams, mining and transaction fees.
The Bitcoin network averaged 578,000 transactions per day from January 1 through September 28, 2026, surpassing its previous annual record of roughly 525,000 transactions in 2024. Yet the average transaction fee has fallen sharply, leaving miners increasingly dependent on newly issued BTC rather than payments from users.
Firsthand reported that fees accounted for just 0.6% of miners’ total earnings during the period it examined. This gap raises a bigger question about Bitcoin’s economics: if network usage continues to expand, why isn’t that activity generating more income for the miners securing the blockchain?
Recent blockchain data highlights the gap between transaction volume and miner revenue. Bitcoin averaged 701,660 confirmed transactions per day during the 30 days through October 14, up approximately 49% from 469,638 transactions a day during the comparable period a year earlier. However, the average number of active addresses declined 12%, from 729,972 to 644,263.
That growth has not translated into stronger Bitcoin transaction fees.
September has its average transaction paid approximately 492 satoshis in fees during 2026 through September 29, compared with 1,140 satoshis in 2025 and 4,019 satoshis in 2024. At the current Bitcoin price, the typical fee amounted to $0.41.
The figures suggest that higher transaction counts alone do not guarantee stronger demand for block space. Fees depend on competition to have transactions confirmed, not simply on how many transactions the network processes.
Bitcoin miners receive revenue from two primary sources: the block subsidy, which awards newly issued BTC, and transaction fees collected from confirmed transactions.
The subsidy currently stands at 3.125 BTC per block following the April 2024 halving. It will fall to 1.5625 BTC after the next halving, expected in 2028, reducing the amount of newly issued Bitcoin miners receive for producing each block.
The 30 days through October 14 found that miners collected approximately 88.6 BTC in transaction fees, compared with 13,884 BTC in newly issued coins. That imbalance makes Bitcoin transaction fees an important long-term consideration for network security. If subsidy revenue declines over successive halvings, fees would need to contribute more meaningfully to miners’ income, all else being equal, to help offset the reduction.
However, the data does not mean Bitcoin mining is currently unprofitable. Miners also earn revenue from the market value of their block rewards, and their profitability depends on electricity costs, hardware efficiency, financing, and other operating expenses.
The revenue question comes as Bitcoin mining faces another structural change.
Binance announced that it would discontinue Binance Pool and related services on November 10, 2026. The closure will require participating miners to redirect their computing power to other pools if they want to continue mining through a pooled service.
Foundry USA, AntPool and F2Pool together accounted for approximately 64% of Bitcoin’s network hashrate. Binance’s departure could further concentrate block production if miners migrate toward the largest remaining pools, although the outcome will depend on where that computing power ultimately moves.
Bitcoin’s growing transaction count demonstrates that network activity remains substantial, but activity alone is an incomplete measure of economic demand. Bitcoin may be getting busier, but its long-term mining economics will depend on what users are willing to pay.
