This morning, developers of Bitcoin Core expressed their joy over enhanced block reconstruction metrics for node operators, while conveniently overlooking the underlying issue — the declining trend in fees that contribute to Bitcoin’s security budget.
They reacted with heart emojis and thumbs-up to a chart showcasing over 80% success in “compact block reconstructions without any requested transactions,” yet they failed to mention the red trend lines indicating a drop in fees paid by Bitcoin users for mining security that supported those optimistic statistics.
Block reconstructions take place when a node seeks additional details about transactions within a compact block.
While compact blocks enable nodes to swiftly transmit valid transaction bundles across the internet, an increase in successful reconstructions without needing extra transaction requests from peers is certainly a positive development.
Due to many nodes transitioning in August to relay transactions bidding 0.1 sat/vB within their mempools, there has been less need for nodes to request extensive transaction data when reconstructing blocks containing sub-1 sat/vB transactions.
This shift led to harmonized mempool conditions as most nodes gained better visibility into which transactions were likely candidates for inclusion in upcoming blocks after they began accepting and relaying pending transactions below 1 sat/vB.
The outcome was improved block reconstruction times since nodes required less information regarding these lower-value sub-1 sat/vB transactions.
In July, several miners acknowledged that user demand for Bitcoin’s blockspace had dwindled so significantly that they were willing to accept transaction fees as low as 0.1 satoshi per virtual byte — marking a staggering 90% reduction from their previous minimum of 1 sat/vB.
With numerous blocks remaining partially filled, miners found themselves tempted into accepting even minimal amounts — down to one billionth of one bitcoin (BTC) — rather than letting some of the excess blockspace go unused at $0 fee rates.
Read more: Bitcoin’s transaction fees have fallen to multi-year lows
Praising Green Stats Amidst Falling Transaction Fees
After this disappointing decline from what had been an established mempool standard for over ten years, an appealing chart emerged showing increased “block reconstructions without requested transactions” associated with a reference node named Bob.
Bob adopted the fee reduction policy on August 15 called “lower the default blockmintxfee,” implementing it on August 22nd. 
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The Decline of USD Transaction Fees Paid To Miners
By August, expenses associated with standard Native Segwit BTC transfers measuring around140 vBytes plummeted from approximately $0.17 down below $0.02.
Average transaction costs per BTC transfer have continued trending downward towards multi-year lows during recent months.
Additionally, total miner earnings measured in USD excluding coinbase rewards are also at historic lows.
However unfortunate these trends may be concerning Bitcoin’s long-term security budget; there remains some optimism reflected by applause among certain Core developers regarding enhanced compact block reconstruction statistics.