This isn't making a whole lot of sense because we're hitting all time highs at the same time that fees are climbing and transaction times are increasing. It seem like it would be the other way around for some reason. Can somebody explain?
You're thinking about it backwards. Price rise causes the increase in transactions. Some people move their
BTC to sell, some people take advantage of the opportunity to buy things and pay with
BTC.
I guess that's one way of looking at it. But, it seems like if people we're selling off, it would drive the price down, and it seems like increased fees would reduce the frequency of smaller transactions which would then increase transaction speeds by reducing the stress on the mempool. Maybe I'm going to have to think about it a little more.