The cryptocurrency market has always been known for its volatility, and Bitcoin BTC -0.23%, the leading digital currency, is no exception. Recent data indicates a significant shift in Bitcoin’s daily transaction patterns.
Since mid-September, there has been a marked decrease in the number of daily transactions confirmed on the Bitcoin blockchain. This decline is attributed to a notable drop in Ordinal inscriptions, which are closely tied to Bitcoin transactions.
From the period of September 1 to September 15, 2023, the average daily transaction count stood at 528,503. However, a contrasting picture emerges when examining the data for October. Between October 1 and October 21, 2023, the daily transaction average plummeted to 284,704. This indicates that the daily average in the first half of September was 46.13% higher than the initial three weeks of October.
A deeper dive into the data reveals that inscriptions experienced a sharp decline on September 24, 2023, and have not shown signs of recovery since. As of block height 813,333, the Bitcoin blockchain recorded nearly 35,377,327 inscriptions.
To put this into perspective, while over 232,000 inscriptions were added on September 24, the daily count hasn’t surpassed 100,000 since that date. In the past week alone, the number of inscriptions struggled to exceed 20,000 per day. This trend has had a direct impact on the number of daily Bitcoin transactions. Notably, on September 15, 2023, the Bitcoin network processed a record 703,692 transactions in a single day.
Historical data provides further context. In September 2023, the average number of daily confirmed Bitcoin transactions was approximately 489,165. Comparatively, the averages for August, July, and June were 464,969, 455,893, and 404,906, respectively. Taking a broader view, the daily average for 2023 so far stands at around 392,170 transactions. This is a significant increase from 2022, where the daily average was 255,085.
Despite the 46% decline in daily transactions from September to October 2023, a silver lining emerges when comparing year-over-year data. There has been a 53% increase in the average number of daily transactions compared to the previous year. This growth is particularly noteworthy, especially considering that 2023 has not yet concluded.
