It's a free market. If you pay a higher transaction fee, your transaction gets processed sooner. Typical transaction fees are now $0.04.
The big spike seems to be over, anyway.[1] Median time never exceeded 13 minutes. Note that this does not include no-fee transaction requests. There may be an attack underway which involves lots of tiny transactions that may never clear. One of the purposes of the fee is to discourage such spamming.
The big spike seems to be over, anyway.[1] Median time never exceeded 13 minutes. Note that this does not include no-fee transaction requests. There may be an attack underway which involves lots of tiny transactions that may never clear. One of the purposes of the fee is to discourage such spamming.
[1] https://blockchain.info/charts/avg-confirmation-time?timespa...