Data: Bitcoin network activity approaches historical highs, with small transactions and inscription activities driving daily transaction volume to exceed 800,000

CryptoQuant data shows that Bitcoin network activity has risen to a level approximately 7% away from the historical peak in September 2024, and has broken through the long-term trend line for the first time since mid-2024, primarily driven by a large number of small transactions rather than traditional economic payment activities. The daily number of Bitcoin transactions in 2026 has exceeded 800,000, more than doubling from the low point in 2025, approaching the cycle peak from 2023 to 2025.

CryptoQuant believes that this growth has structural characteristics rather than being a short-term fluctuation. Among these, small transactions below 0.01 BTC now account for about 80%, significantly higher than about 44% in 2023. This change is closely related to the usage of OP_RETURN, which is near historical highs. CryptoQuant points out that protocols such as Runes, Ordinals, BRC-20, and data timestamp services generate a large number of low-value transactions by writing data to the blockchain, with some transaction amounts as low as 546 satoshis.

As inscription activities increase, the number of transactions in the Bitcoin mempool has risen to about 128,000, the highest level since February 2025. Although still below the extreme congestion levels of September 2023 and November 2024, the report suggests that non-financial use transactions are occupying an increasing amount of Bitcoin network throughput, and if this trend continues, it may drive up transaction fees for time-sensitive economic transactions.

Meanwhile, the rise in on-chain activity contrasts with the flow of funds. There has been a net outflow of over $528 million from Bitcoin and Ethereum spot funds; however, institutional investors still view ETF fund flows as the core driving force of this cycle and maintain the benchmark expectation that Bitcoin will reach $150,000 by the end of the year.