Bitcoin daily transactions are nearing peak levels following a massive uptick this year, driven by ordinal inscriptions.
The Bitcoin ordinal inscription craze is back, and network transactions are surging as a result. On May 1, on-chain analytics provider Glassnode reported that daily transactions were approaching peak levels.
The 30-day moving average for the metric had reached 348,700 daily transactions. Furthermore, the peak level was measured in 2017 when it reached 379,000 transactions per day on average.
However, these figures are taken from moving averages. According to Blockchain.com, the actual daily transaction count spiked to 426,814 on April 30. It has increased by more than 70% since the beginning of the year.
#Bitcoin daily transaction counts are approaching All-time-highs, seeing an explosive uptick in 2023.With the emergence of Inscriptions, analysts now need to assess how much of this is driven by Inscriptions vs monetary transfers.
— glassnode (@glassnode) April 30, 2023
Ordinal Inscription Revival
The spike in network transactions has been attributed to ordinal inscriptions. According to Glassnode, inscriptions represent approximately 30% to 40% of mined transactions and 10% to 20% of fees paid.
The remaining majority are monetary transactions, often via exchanges, it added. “BTC exchange activity is, however, relatively low, accounting for ~30% of fees and transactions,” it noted.
The inscription craze originally took off in February when users began inscribing NFTs to satoshis, the recent revival has been dominated by text-based inscriptions, however.
Glassnode concluded:
“Bitcoin transaction counts, address activity, Inscriptions, and Mempool congestion are all elevated. As is the degree of HODLing, and supply acquired below $30k. Conviction remains.”
Bitcoin Price Outlook
BTC remains down 58% from its peak price levels in November 2021, and the correction could well deepen before there is any transition to a bull cycle.