Blockchain 101: Episode 17 – Why are Bitcoin transactions charged by bytes?

Our banks usually charge a fee based on a percentage of the transaction amount we are sending. For example, 0.5% for inter-bank transactions. 0.1-1% for transactions across different cities, and for transnational transfers, on top of the commission fees, there are additional cable charges too.

For cryptocurrencies, transaction fees are based on the size of the transaction in bytes, not the amount transferred. For instance, an average Bitcoin transaction takes up 250 bytes, the transaction fee will be around 0.001-0.0015 Bitcoin. If you’re sending Bitcoins to multiple addresses in one transaction, then the transaction will be a larger byte size, hence you may want to pay a higher transaction fee, in order to attract miners to process your transaction.

Yet, from a cost perspective, it is highly advantageous to utilize blockchain technology for cross-border transactions.