With the Ethereum Pectra upgrade fully implemented, the overall network gas bill is minimal, with median transactions averaged around 0.000061 ETH or $0.15 per transfer. Bitcoin’s on-chain fees are also stable, and are generally higher than Ethereum, but this weekend’s high-priority Bitcoin trading is expected to clear at around $0.58.
The two largest blockchain networks by market capitalization maintain a low-cost environment
Since Pectra was activated on May 7, 2025, fees have been largely suppressed. However, there was a temporary increase on May 12th, when the median gas price rose to $0.687 per transaction. As of May 17th, the median Ethereum value was at approximately 0.000061 ETH ($0.15). That said, users can now secure confirmation in under 30 seconds by paying just 0.65 GWEI or about $0.03.
Ethereum gas costs are below one GWEI at all priorities this weekend, according to data from EtherScan gas tracker. In the context, the token swap is around $0.48, the average NFT sale is $0.82, the token bridge is around $0.16, and engage in borrowings is $0.41. Median Ethereum fees are hovered for less than $1 over 82 consecutive days dating back to February 24, 2025.
Bitcoin prices have risen relatively compared to Ethereum, but were modest. In the same 82-day window, the median Bitcoin fees are not above $1.50. In fact, except for February 24th, April 23rd and May 17th, the median Bitcoin value usually remains below $1. Costs are even more advantageous for senders, especially on May 17th.
Currently, high priority transactions on the Bitcoin network require approximately two Satoshis (SAT/VB) fees per virtual byte. This amounts to about $0.29. At the exact 4:30pm PM ET on Saturday (4:30pm ET), members remained with less than 2,300 unconfirmed transfers signalled by optical network activity. The decline in trading fees corresponds to an increase in BTC and an increase in ETH values against the US dollar as Bitcoin trades near $103,000 and ether covers around $2,500 per coin.
