$2B In Bitcoin Moved For Just 78 Cents In Transaction Fees

A single Bitcoin BTC/USD transaction worth over $2 billion was processed for under $1. 

What Happened: According to data from Blockchain.com, more than 44,500 BTC worth $2,011,009,391 moved from one anonymous crypto wallet to another for as little as 78 cents in transaction fees.

An international transfer of the same size would typically involve a transfer fee of between 1% and 3%. Even a transfer fee of 1% on a $2-billion transfer would cost at least $20 million and take between one and four days to process.

Despite surging to a record high of $62 earlier this year, the average transfer fee on the Bitcoin blockchain is now as low as $2, according to data from BitInfoCharts.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele estimated that if the country’s citizens adopt Bitcoin at scale, then remittance service providers like The Western Union Company WU could lose as much as $400 million a year.

“Wherever you are now, you can send bitcoin to anyone with a Chivo wallet in El Salvador, and in minutes, they have the value and then they can go to one of the ATMs and take it out in cash without a fee,” said Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer for the Human Rights Foundation.

“That’s drop-dead stunning. It’s an incredible humanitarian improvement.”

Price Action: At press time, Bitcoin was trading at a price of $46,590.