Bitcoin Network Hits Milestone: One Billion Transactions Processed

The Bitcoin network recently celebrated a monumental achievement, processing its one billionth transaction, marking a significant milestone in its 15-year journey since the mining of its genesis block in January 2009.

The landmark transaction occurred in block 842,241 at 05:34 UTC+8 on May 6. Over the course of its existence, the network has averaged approximately 178,475 transactions per day.

The crypto community lauded this accomplishment, with eyes now set on the next billion target. Tarik Sammour, an associate professor at the University of Adelaide, commended Bitcoin for achieving this milestone flawlessly, securely, and without reliance on any centralized intermediary. Similarly, Bitcoin's rapid ascent to this milestone in just 15 years compared to the 25 years taken by Visa.

The driving forces behind Bitcoin's transaction volume have evolved over time. Initially, transactions were primarily for transferring value between users. However, recent years have seen a shift, partly due to the emergence of innovative protocols such as Ordinals Inscriptions and Runes, which have sparked increased interest in the blockchain and fueled heightened network activity.

For instance, on April 23, the Bitcoin blockchain recorded its highest daily transaction volume, processing over 926,000 transactions, with approximately 90% attributed to the Runes protocol. Additionally, the introduction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) earlier in the year has further bolstered transaction numbers.

In another intriguing development, a long-dormant Bitcoin address from the early days of Satoshi Nakamoto's creation was revived after a decade of dormancy. Originally holding 687 BTC valued at $43.9 million, the wallet's contents were recently split and transferred to two distinct addresses. In this transaction, 625.43 BTC was sent to an address starting with bc1qky, while the remaining 61.9 BTC was directed to bc1qdc.

Blockchain investigators revealed that the whale first received the 687.33 BTC on Jan. 12, 2014, when the price of Bitcoin was $917. This event underscores the continued intrigue and activity surrounding Bitcoin's early adopters and their holdings.