Bitcoin network activity hits a 12-month low

What’s new? The Bitcoin network’s 7-day moving average of transactions has fallen to 330 000, hovering around 12-month lows, a significant drop from the peak of 730 000 transactions seen earlier in the network’s history. This figure represents a roughly 55% drop in network activity from peak levels, indicating a marked change in how the Bitcoin network is utilized. Transaction fees stabilized at around $500 000 last month, below the higher levels seen during periods of increased network activity through the end of 2024.

The decline looks particularly noticeable when examining the trajectory of bitcoin-based protocols such as Runes and Ordinals, which initially attracted speculative attention and network activity. These protocols, which function in much the same way as the ERC-20 and NFT tokens on Ethereum, now account for roughly 1% of total transaction volume. Fee generation from Runes has dropped to less than $20 000 in the past 30 days, down from the $60 million it generated on launch day.

What else is known? Traders have largely focused on networks like Solana, especially for trading meme coins. Similarly, Base has been a major marketplace for AI agent tokens in recent months. This migration of activity indicates that while BTC remains the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, other networks are taking over certain niches and trading volumes.

Current transaction levels may begin to raise questions about Bitcoin network utilization and the sustainability of fees. As protocol activity decreases and transaction fees stabilize, the network may return to primarily money transfer use. The sustainability of this trend may depend on whether new Bitcoin-based protocols can again attract sustained user participation. This is key to building a robust ecosystem in the long term as block rewards continue to decline.

Previously, over 30% of Ethereum blockchain validators expressed support for a proposal to increase the gas limit per block. The limit currently stands at 30 million, and 31,7% of validators indicated that it should be increased to 40 million.