Bitcoin Transactions At All-Time High, But Active Addresses Collapse: What’s Going On?

As a researcher with experience in blockchain analysis, I find the recent divergence between Bitcoin’s Active Addresses and Transaction Count intriguing. Based on the data presented, it appears that fewer unique addresses are active on the network, but the total number of transactions has not followed suit and remains near an all-time high.


As a researcher studying the Bitcoin network, I’ve noticed an intriguing discrepancy in recent data trends. The number of active addresses has taken a significant dive below previous all-time highs (ATH), but surprisingly, the transaction count remains steadily elevated around its own ATH.

Bitcoin Active Addresses And Transaction Count Have Diverged Recently

Based on Glassnode’s most recent weekly analysis, there’s been a noticeable discrepancy between two key Bitcoin network activity markers: the number of active addresses and the transaction count.

The Active Addresses metric monitors the distinct number of addresses involved in transactions on the blockchain each day, which can be likened to the user count for the network in a natural and clear way.

The following graph illustrates the fluctuations in the Active Addresses metric for Bitcoin over the last ten years.

Bitcoin Transactions At All-Time High, But Active Addresses Collapse: What’s Going On?

Based on the graph’s representation, the 30-day moving average (MA) of Bitcoin Active Addresses has noticeably decreased over the past few months. This observation suggests that a smaller number of users have been engaging in network transactions lately.

In this timeframe, the market’s momentum has been robust, as indicated by the chart’s upward trend. However, historical data reveals that past bullish phases resulted in a greater increase for the indicator. Consequently, there seems to be a divergence from the usual pattern in the current market cycle.

Another significant indicator to consider is the Transaction Count, representing the total daily transfers occurring within the network. Here’s a visualization illustrating its recent trends:

Bitcoin Transactions At All-Time High, But Active Addresses Collapse: What’s Going On?

It’s intriguing to note that although the average value of Active Addresses has decreased, there has been a significant increase in daily Transaction Counts. The metric currently hovers around 612,000 transactions per day, approaching an all-time high.

Despite a decrease in the number of active addresses, the volume of transactions per address has significantly increased.

“What causes this observation? An intriguing relationship has been discovered by the data analysis team between the number of active addresses and the percentage of transactions in the Bitcoin Inscription data.”

As a data analyst, I’ve observed that the use of inscriptions to record information on Satoshis, the tiniest units of Bitcoin, gained significant traction starting from early 2023. However, this trend seems to have waned more recently.

Bitcoin Transactions At All-Time High, But Active Addresses Collapse: What’s Going On?

The graph indicates that the proportion of Transactions for Inscriptions started decreasing around mid-April, coinciding with the drop in Active Addresses.

From a researcher’s perspective, it seems that the decline of Inscriptions may be attributed to the emergence of the Runes protocol. In simpler terms, Runes offer an alternative way for users to create and trade fungible tokens on the network, differing from the method used by Inscriptions.

The Runes launched alongside the fourth Halving, which is around when the Inscriptions fell off.

Bitcoin Transactions At All-Time High, But Active Addresses Collapse: What’s Going On?

The Runes protocol employs the practice of using the same address for various transactions, leading to an increased occurrence of this address in transactions. Consequently, it’s understandable that the implementation of this protocol has intensified the separation between the number of active addresses and the total transaction count.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at around $69,600, down more than 2% over the past week.

Bitcoin Transactions At All-Time High, But Active Addresses Collapse: What’s Going On?

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2024-06-13 07:12