Bitcoin Achieves Historic Milestone with One Billion Transactions Processed in 15 Years
In a significant achievement, Bitcoin (BTC) has processed its one billionth transaction after 15 years, four months, and four days since its inception with the mining of the first block by Satoshi Nakamoto on January 3, 2009. This milestone was confirmed by a report from Clark Moody’s Bitcoin dashboard, revealing that the one billion transactions were processed in block 842,241 at exactly 9:34 pm UTC on May 5.
This accomplishment brings the average daily transaction count for the Bitcoin network to 178,475 over the course of its 5,603-day existence. However, it is important to note that this data does not include transactions processed by the Bitcoin layer-2 protocol Lightning Network.
Interestingly, Ethereum was the first cryptocurrency to surpass the one billion transaction mark, achieving this feat in 2023, despite being operational since 2015. Ethereum has since processed over two billion transactions, solidifying its position as a leading blockchain network.
In August 2023, the Lightning Network alone processed approximately 6.6 million transactions, showcasing its ability to handle one million transactions per second (TPS). This implies that hundreds of millions of transactions have been facilitated by the Lightning Network since its launch in January 2018.
To further analyze the factors contributing to this record-breaking figure, research focused on Bitcoin’s fourth halving event on April 20. It was observed that a record high of 926,000 transactions were processed on April 23, with much of the demand stemming from the launch of the Runes protocol at block 840,000.
During this time, Bitcoin transaction fees reached 630% higher than the 3.125 block subsidy, peaking at a record high of $128 per transaction. However, fees have since decreased to $4.50. Additionally, the daily transaction count has cooled off, currently standing at 625,998 as of May 5.
The milestone of one billion transactions has also had an impact on the price of Bitcoin. At present, the daily transaction count has increased to 625,998, a 5.19% decline from the previous day but a 4.14% surge from a year ago. Notably, this figure aligns with the recent price performance, with Bitcoin experiencing a 1.88% surge in the last 24 hours and a 4.3% surge in the last seven days. As of now, Bitcoin is trading at $64,981.
In light of this achievement, analyst Doctor Profit has encouraged investors to seize the opportunity and continue buying Bitcoin, as it could potentially reach $68,000. This contradicts the 20% drop prediction by 10x Research, as reviewed by Crypto News Flash.
It is worth noting that Bitcoin is not the first cryptocurrency to process one billion transactions, despite being the oldest. Ethereum (ETH) holds this distinction, having processed over two billion transactions after reaching the one billionth transaction mark in early 2021.