{"id":171075,"date":"2025-06-09T19:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T19:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/171075\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T19:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T19:50:09","slug":"bitcoin-network-goes-silent-lowest-activity-in-months-raises-questions-about-utility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/171075\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin network goes silent: Lowest activity in months raises questions about utility"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li data-start=\"14\" data-end=\"93\">Bitcoin transactions hit a 19-month low, even as BTC trades near all-time highs.<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"14\" data-end=\"93\">Debate grows over low-fee transactions, raising questions about Bitcoin\u2019s long-term utility and purpose.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Even as <a href=\"https:\/\/ambcrypto.com\/category\/bitcoin-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">Bitcoin [BTC]<\/a> prices hover near record highs, on-chain activity has plunged to its lowest levels in over a year.<\/p>\n<p>This raised uncomfortable questions about whether the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency is being used\u2026 or simply held.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Transaction volumes collapse despite Bitcoin trading near ATH<\/strong><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"119\" data-end=\"724\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">The Bitcoin network is experiencing a puzzling disconnect: while BTC trades over $100K, on-chain activity has sharply declined.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"119\" data-end=\"724\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">As of the 6th of June, the seven-day Moving Average of daily transactions sits at just 317,000; the lowest level since October 2023, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblock.co\/data\/on-chain-metrics\/bitcoin\/transactions-on-the-bitcoin-network-daily\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">The Block\u2019s<\/a> data.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-06-09-152919.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-499902\" class=\"size-full wp-image-499902\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"bitcoin\" width=\"1707\" height=\"458\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-06-09-152919.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-499902\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: The Block<\/p>\n<p>The chart clearly shows a steady decline in transaction counts since the late-2024 peak of over 700,000.\u00a0 This sharp drop raises key questions: Is Bitcoin usage decreasing, or has demand shifted off-chain?<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, the slowdown stands out as a quiet phase within an otherwise booming market.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Low fee amid thinning demand<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a telling sign of Bitcoin\u2019s slowing fee market, a 0.1 sat\/vB transaction \u2013 costing just 11 sats (Satoshi, smallest unit of Bitcoin) or about $0.01 \u2013 was finally mined by MARA after sitting idle in the Mempool for nearly a month.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/4vGq-cct.jpg\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-499906\" class=\"size-full wp-image-499906\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"bitcoin\" width=\"680\" height=\"340\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/4vGq-cct.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-499906\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: X<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mononautical\/status\/1931512028444656117\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">The transaction<\/a>, crafted by Mempool\u2019s founder Mononaut, slipped through via MARA\u2019s Slipstream pipeline, which accepts non-standard, low-fee transactions.Network demand has become soft, with miners increasingly open to including transactions far below Bitcoin Core\u2019s default relay floor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A creeping spam?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As Bitcoin transaction counts reach a 19-month low, a heated debate has erupted within the community.<\/p>\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/bitcoincore.org\/en\/2025\/06\/06\/relay-statement\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">open letter<\/a> sent on the 6th of June, 31 Bitcoin Core developers defended the inclusion of low-fee and non-standard transactions, arguing that it is crucial to Bitcoin\u2019s censorship-resistant nature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBitcoin can and will be used for use cases not everyone agrees on,\u201d they stated.<\/p>\n<p>But critics like Jan3\u2019s Samson Mow aren\u2019t buying it. Framing the move as a drift away from Bitcoin\u2019s monetary roots amid falling on-chain demand, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Excellion\/status\/1931430881861779965\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow external noopener noreferrer\">he argued, <\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cCore devs\u2026 seem focused on removing barriers for spammers\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>A network in waiting<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With activity plumbing new lows, Bitcoin\u2019s identity crisis is hard to ignore.<\/p>\n<p>As it cements its role as \u201cdigital gold\u201d in the eyes of institutional investors, real on-chain usage is thinning,<a href=\"https:\/\/ambcrypto.com\/bitcoin-bears-bet-against-btcs-rally-but-a-short-squeeze-could-follow-if\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> bringing doubts<\/a> about its viability as a day-to-day transactional network.<\/p>\n<p>The gap between price speculation and practical use is widening, putting pressure on miner incentives and decentralization.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If activity doesn\u2019t return to Layer 1, BTC risks becoming a store of value supported by an infrastructure few actively use.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext: <a href=\"https:\/\/ambcrypto.com\/kaia-defies-low-liquidity-to-rally-14-can-it-target-0-135-next\/\" rel=\"prev noopener\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" target=\"_blank\">KAIA defies low liquidity to rally 14% \u2013 Can it target $0.135 next?<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bitcoin transactions hit a 19-month low, even as BTC trades near all-time highs. Debate grows over low-fee transactions,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[52,51,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-171075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-ambcrypto","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114655148385822028","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}