How Does Network Congestion Affect the Effective Minimum Transaction Fee?

Network congestion significantly increases the effective minimum transaction fee. When the network is congested, the demand for limited block space exceeds the supply.

This forces users to bid higher fee rates to compete for inclusion in the next block. As a result, the lowest fee rate that a miner will accept and include in a block rises, which is the effective minimum fee.

The fee market dynamically adjusts to the level of congestion, ensuring that the most urgent or highest-value transactions are confirmed first.