A major player in the cryptocurrency market has just transferred 51 BTC worth around $ 511 million. Total fees cost them only a quarter. Bitcoin is often criticized for being too costly, in terms of commission, but recent transactions show that the leading cryptocurrency it is still much more affordable than retail banking.
While large amounts being transferred are common on the Bitcoin network, it is always useful to look at the fees that are charged. It acts as a reminder of how cheap Bitcoin remains despite criticism. Today was one of those reminders: a whale just moved 51,511 BTC ($ 440 million) for a fee of just $ 0.25. The transfer was exposed by Bitcoin Block Bot (@BtcBlockBot).
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$ 440 million in BTC Transferred for 25 cents
The fact that this transaction was on SegWit also meant that it was 30% cheaper than it would have been otherwise, according to Blockstream's block explorer. If it were fully upgraded to SegWit-Bech32, this transaction would have been 16% less expensive. Still, a measly $ 0.25 fee for a $ 445M transaction is quite generous and the whale certainly didn't mind. Since this is a transfer between addresses, it is unlikely to affect the market. At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin is hovering around $ 8.
The incredibly cheap transfer recalls a similar story as where Bitfinex moved its entire hot wallet to a new address that set off alarms for most of the Bitcoin-related activity bots. The $ 1.1B move was shocking in its own right, but what was equally surprising was that it cost just $ 0.48.
Bitcoin makes banks obsolete
The commission that the bank charges simply cannot compete with Bitcoin because if they offered such fees they would simply go bankrupt. Banks make their money with wire transfers, withdrawal fees, and other misc. quotas that are often multiplied when larger amounts are questioned.
However, this is not the case for Bitcoin. Large amounts move seamlessly through the market and are still extremely inexpensive to transfer compared to retail banking. That is an advantage that Bitcoin undoubtedly still has over traditional money transfer systems, and it is an advantage that it will continue to have for a long time to come.
