The analytical company Glassnode reported a significant decrease in on-chain activity in the Bitcoin network, which has raised concerns among investors. According to experts, the number of daily transactions has fallen to 320,000–500,000, nearing the lows of October 2023. This has occurred despite a stable cryptocurrency price, indicating a divergence between market valuation and network activity.
The main reason for the decline is considered to be the sharp reduction in non-financial operations, particularly transactions related to Taproot assets (Ordinals) and OP_Return fields (Runes), which previously stimulated demand. At the same time, the dominance of large players has increased, moving significant volumes of Bitcoin off-chain, particularly through centralized exchanges. The daily trading volume on CEX reached $10 billion, peaking at $23 billion in November, however, these actions rarely reflect in on-chain data.
Experts note that this has also affected miners' revenues, as the share of network fees in their earnings has dropped below 1%, to $530,000 per day. Despite this, the total volume of value being transferred remains at $7.5 billion, indicating sustained interest from institutional investors. Glassnode emphasizes that such trends may indicate a shift in the Bitcoin economy towards a more centralized off-chain segment, which could impact the long-term decentralization of the network.
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