Bitcoin Fees Rocket as Price Nears $105K—Miners Feast While Users Fume

Network congestion sends transaction costs soaring—just as retail FOMO kicks in. Classic crypto-economics: the system gets more expensive precisely when people most want to use it.

Miners rake in fees while traders seethe over $50 transfers costing $30 to process. But hey, at least the blockchain’s decentralized—unless you count the mining pools controlling 60% of the hash rate.

Wall Street analysts nod sagely, muttering ’sound money’ while quietly routing payments through Visa. The revolution will be centralized—and expensive.

Source: Bitbo

The surge indicates a slowdown in retail activity, while institutions and whales are making priority transfers, suggesting ongoing accumulation.

This accumulation is further supported by a sharp increase in Bitcoin’s Illiquid Supply, which has reached a new high.

The metric also highlights that long-held Bitcoin remains untouched, signaling that long-term holders are retaining their assets rather than selling.

Source: Glassnode

The supply held by long-term holders has surged from 14.3 million BTC to 15.8 million BTC, marking an increase of 1.5 million BTC—a strong sign of accumulation within this group.

Given this heightened activity, it’s clear that rising demand for Bitcoin among large players has contributed to the spike in transaction fees.

As accumulation intensifies, transaction fees continue to climb, reflecting the growing competition to secure block space.

Source: CryptoQuant

What does it mean for BTC?

As observed above, transaction fees surged as whales and institutions entered the market to accumulate Bitcoin.

This demand for BTC also had a positive impact on BTC price actions. As fees surged, Bitcoin also breached the $105k resistance to hit $107,115 before a pullback.

Since reaching these levels, Bitcoin has retraced to $102,853, signaling a market cooldown. Therefore, as of now the market has cooled down, with demand from large holders dropping from the previously witnessed levels, while retail activity also remains down.

These conditions position Bitcoin for further consolidation, as witnessed when LTH demand is absorbing retailer indifference.

Therefore, if these conditions hold, we could see BTC continue to trade between $100k and $105k. For a sustained breakout, retail activity needs to recover, thus supporting large holders’ bullishness.

A shift in sentiment among retailers and speculators could see another jump above $105k to $108k.