Bitcoin’s transactions per block doubled, but demand didn’t come with them

Bitcoin's transactions per block doubled, yet demand did not increase correspondingly.

This rise in transaction efficiency, without a corresponding rise in demand, might pose challenges to Bitcoin's long-term network security as miner revenue decreases.

In October 2026, the average daily confirmed Bitcoin transactions ranged from 700,000 to 800,000. This compares to an average of about 372,000 in January 2025.

Blocks during this period operated at roughly 98% capacity, with an average size nearing 1.5 MB. The average fee for a transaction in late October 2026 dropped to approximately 32 cents.

The increase in transaction count stems from smaller payments utilizing Segregated Witness, or SegWit, which occupy less space. Microtransactions, defined as payments less than 0.01 BTC, constitute about 80% of total Bitcoin network activity.

SegWit was implemented on Bitcoin in August 2017. This upgrade changed block space measurement from a simple size cap to a limit of 4 million weight units, offering a discount on "witness" data.

If demand had truly doubled, one would anticipate competition for block space, leading to higher fees. However, blocks remained near 98% full while fees were around 32 cents, suggesting space efficiency rather than increased user volume.

Since miners earn the block subsidy and fees, the research indicates falling miner fee revenue despite the high transaction volume. This suggests the network is processing more transactions while paying its security providers less per transaction.

The research suggests that constrained miner revenue could introduce long-term issues for network security. For users, the current situation allows small payments to remain practical on the base layer due to cheap fees on nearly full blocks.