The Bitcoin network hit a significant milestone on May 6 2024 when it completed its one billionth transaction.
According to data from the Bitcoin dashboard by Clark Moody, the network processed its one billionth transaction in block 842,241 at 21:34 UTC on May 5 2024.
HISTORY: #Bitcoin has officially processed over 1 BILLION transactions all time 💫 pic.twitter.com/Z3HMYuuexS
— Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) May 5, 2024
This milestone comes 15 years and 4 months after the mining of Bitcoin’s genesis block on January 3 2009.
With an average rate of 178,475 transactions per day throughout its 5,603-day existence, Bitcoin has proven its capability to securely manage substantial transaction volumes without the need for centralized intermediaries.
This milestone coincides with Bitcoin’s recent surge to an all-time high surpassing $73,000 in March 2024. The enthusiasm surrounding the latest halving event and the introduction of new protocols such as Ordinals and Runes have fueled increases in network activity.
INTRODUCING | Runes Protocol, ‘Built for Degens and MemeCoins,’ Goes Live on #Bitcoin Blockchain Following the Halving
The excitement surrounding Runes originates from the success of Rodarmor's prior project, the Ordinals protocol. Ordinals brought NFT-like 'inscriptions' to… pic.twitter.com/XReMRXcxgI
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) April 20, 2024
For Bitcoin miners who earn money on Bitcoin via block rewards for successfully adding new blocks to the blockchain and by collecting transaction fees from users for including their transactions in those blocks, the new protocols have proven to be a boon driving up transactions and fees on the network.
Following the halving, Bitcoin miners now earn 3.125 BTC for each block they mine, a decrease from the previous reward of 6.25 BTC. But the launch of Runes on the same day as the halving saw an increase in block value, as highlighted by Bitcoin analyst, Clark Moody.
Nine of the top 10 most valuable blocks have been mined today pic.twitter.com/0W5zbLOHx0
— Clark Moody (@clarkmoody) April 20, 2024
Runes, which is being used to create memecoins and other ETH-like tokens, was calculated to stir up a significant amount of on-chain activity that will increase Bitcoin’s network fees which will help offset the decrease of the miner reward from the halving.
On the day, Bitcoin transaction fees reached an unprecedented average of $128.45 per transaction, driving profits for miners while making the network less feasible for regular transactions.
MILESTONE | #Bitcoin Transaction Fees Plummet After All-Time High Rates Post Halving
On April 20 2024, the day of the Bitcoin halving and the launch of Runes, Bitcoin transaction fees reached an unprecedented average of $128.45.
This figure surpassed the average fee rate of… pic.twitter.com/SuWtXK5OYk
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) April 22, 2024
On April 23 2024, the Bitcoin blockchain witnessed its highest daily transactions, processing over 926,000 transactions with around 90% of the transactions originating from the Runes protocol.
At the time of writing, the network fees have since declined to $12.15.
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