Two days ago there was a halving of bitcoin. This occurred when block #840,000 was created. Since then, miners' remuneration has decreased. All indications are that bitcoiners were eager to be part of this historic event and filled the block with transactions.

Who pays, decides

To get transaction priority and thus ensure that the miner who finds the block will include your transactions, you have to pay. The higher the transaction fee, the more likely the miner will prioritize you.
In total, more than 2.4 million dollars were spent on fees, which is 37.7 bitcoins at the current BTC exchange rate.

The miner gets more than 40 bitcoins

The halving of the fees that miners receive for confirming transactions on the Bitcoin network, which occurred the night before last at 02:09 Polish time, has halved the reward that miners receive for confirming transactions on the Bitcoin network. This is an important event in the history of bitcoin as it helps control the inflation of the digital currency.
Thus, a miner who found a block of 840,000 would only receive half of the reward per block: 3.25 instead of 6.50. On the other hand, this miner was also able to get 37.7 bitcoins as a reward.

Who is paying for all of this?

The high fees were caused by the race of fans to preserve and engrave rare satoshis on the halving block. Many collectors are willing to pay high fees for unique satoshi preserved on key blocks. This is a kind of NFT on the Bitcoin network.
Most of the activity came from a new application on the Bitcoin network called Runes Protocol. This app allows for the creation of inscriptions on bitcoin blocks that collectors use to create unique artwork and messages.