Transaction fees on the Bitcoin network hit a 10-month high ahead of the cryptocurrency’s halving event, as demand for block space kept growing throughout April.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is nearing its all-time high roughly one week ahead of the halving, presumably as miners turn on old mining equipment that became profitable thanks to BTC’s recent price recovery.

Fully shielded transactions on the Zcash network have hit a new all-time high, after jumping by 70% in April.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bitcoin Transaction Fees Hit 10-Month High
• Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Gets Near Its All-Time High Ahead of the Halving
• Fully Shielded Zcash Transactions Hit New High After 70% Rise in April

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $9,008.43 (3.55%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $3.50 bn. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $208.65 (3.16%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $1.02 bn. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 3,052.56 (1.08%).

Bitcoin Transaction Fees Hit 10-Month High Ahead of Its Halving

The average transaction fee on the Bitcoin network recently hit a 10-month high, ahead of the halving, as demand for space on the network appears to be on the rise. Data from BitInfoCharts show that the average transaction fee for BTC surged to $2.94 on April 30, a level that hadn’t been seen since July 2019.

One day before the rise on April 30, the fees were at $1.28, and the day before that they were at $0.66. The average transaction fee has since dropped below $2, and is currently sitting at $1.8. Despite the drop, it’s worth noting that throughout April the average transaction fee kept on rising.

In January of this year, the average fee to transact on the Bitcoin network was $0.29, showing how significantly demand for block space has been growing so far this year. Fees on the BTC network hit an all-time high above $50 in December 2017, when the cryptocurrency hit its all-time high near $20,000.

Data shows that the number of confirmed bitcoin transaction per day dropped significantly earlier this year during the so-called ‘Black Thursday’ after the price of BTC plummeted 40% in little over 24 hours, and is only now recovering.

Blockchain data shows Bitcoin’s mempool had a large backlog of unconfirmed transactions at the time the fees rose. The backlog has mostly been cleared.

Bitcoin’s Mining Difficulty Gets Near Its All-Time High Ahead of the Halving

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty was just adjusted and it’s now at 16.10 trillion (T), close to its all-time high of 16.55 T recorded in March, ahead of the so-called ‘Black Thursday’ market crash.

The adjustment was the final rate change before bitcoin’s halving event, which will cut block rewards from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC per block, effectively reducing the amount of new BTC entering the market from 1,800 to 900 per day.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty adjusts itself every 2016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks, based on the competition between miners during each cycle. The adjustment is made so blocks keep being found every 10 minutes.

The recent adjustment comes after blockchain data shows that over the last seven days the average hashing power connected to the network moved from 119 EH(s to 125 EH/s, as miners are likely turning back on old mining rigs that are again profitable thanks to BTC’s price recovery to flirt with the $9,000 mark.

Fully Shielded Zcash Transactions Hit New High After 70% Rise in April

The number of fully shielded transactions made on the Zcash (ZEC) network has hit a new all-time high after rising by 70% in April to over 8,700, representing 6% of the total transaction recorded on the cryptocurrency’s blockchain.

Zcash supports two types of addresses: z-addr, which are shielded, and t-addr, which are transparent. T-addr transactions are fully transparent and can be viewed on the public blockchain, while transactions between z-addr addresses are fully shielded. T-addr to z-addr transactions can have some shielded components.

The number of fully shielded transactions, between two z-addr addresses, grew 70% in April, after growing 100% in March as well. The increase in shielded transactions may be related to wallets making it easier for users to take advantage of the feature.

Per CoinTelegraph, fully shielded transaction number started surging after Zcash was added as a perpetual contract option on Binance.

Kyber Network (KNC) is the Daily Mover

This week’s Daily Mover featured asset is Kyber Network (KNC).  Kyber Network is an on-chain exchange that allows users to instant trade and convert cryptocurrencies and tokens. It aggregates liquidity from a wide range of reserves, and uses the KNC token to fuel its decentralized exchange (DEX) operations.

KNC’s FCAS score went up 4.23% in the last two weeks, thanks to an 8.96% rise in User Activity. It likely went up after the Kyber Network team released updates for its upcoming protocol upgrade Katalyst, which will allow KNC token holders to earn by staking their tokens. Holders can also earn ether (ETH) participating in KyberDAO (decentralized autonomous organization) votes.

John Ng Pangilinan, managing partner at Signum Capital, an investor in Kyber Network, was quoted as saying:

“The fact that holding KNC will allow investors to participate in developing the protocol could also be a prominent reason for the rise in addresses with KNC balances.”

The project also benefits from the growth in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, as the need to swap assets grows. The high volatility seen so far this year also benefits the Kyber Network, as traders use the DEX to swap risky tokens for stablecoins. On March 13, the so-called’ Black Thursday’ when cryptos fell by about 40%, Kyber recorded its highest daily activity.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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