Calculating transaction fees is like riding a bike or rolling a cigarette: simple when you know how, but frustratingly complex otherwise. UX improvements over the last few years have made bitcoin easier than ever to send and receive, but fee calculation is still something of a dark art. The following resources make fee calculation a doddle
Taking a Byte out of Your Satoshis
Where Do Transaction Fees Go?
In addition to earning a reward for solving the next block, miners receive the fees attached to any transactions on that block. The current reward per block is 12.5 BTC, but the miner may receive a figure closer to 13 BTC by the time fees have been added on. Although there is technically no obligation to attach fees to a transaction, there is also no obligation for the miner to include any transaction in the block they’re confirming. Thus it makes sense to include a fee to incentivize the miner to add the transaction to the block.
What’s your go-to tool for calculating transaction fees? Let us know in the comments section below.