beehiiv-import

⚡Bitcoin Makes History💯

Croxroad

06 May 2024 — 4 min read

☕️ GM Dear Plebs!

Here is Crox Road, your daily dose of orange pill that will turn you into a Bitcoin Maxi.

The menu for today:

🤩 A Billion Transactions Strong

The Bitcoin network has achieved a monumental milestone, processing its one billionth transaction since its inception 15 years ago. This significant moment was marked by transaction 1,000,000,000, which was mined into block 842,241 at 9:34 pm UTC on May 5, according to data from Clark Moody’s Bitcoin dashboard. This accomplishment comes after 15 years, four months, and four days since Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, mined the network's first block on January 3, 2009.

On average, the Bitcoin network has handled 178,475 daily transactions throughout its 5,603-day existence. However, it's worth noting that this count excludes transactions made on the Lightning Network, a Bitcoin layer 2 network primarily focused on micropayments. Data from the Bitcoin-only exchange River indicates that the Lightning Network alone processed an estimated 6.6 million transactions in August 2023, suggesting that Lightning Network transactions could number in the hundreds of millions since its launch in January 2018.

Bitcoin's daily transaction volume experienced a notable surge around the network's fourth halving event on April 20, reaching a record high of 926,000 transactions processed on April 23. This increased demand was largely attributed to the launch of the Runes protocol, a new Bitcoin token standard, at block 840,000. However, daily transaction counts have since moderated, with 660,260 transactions recorded on May 4.

Although Bitcoin holds the title of the oldest cryptocurrency network, it is not the first to reach the one billion transaction milestone. Ethereum, its biggest rival, has processed well over 2 billion transactions since its launch in July 2015, as reported by Etherscan data. Despite recent fluctuations in price, Bitcoin is currently valued at $63,750, representing a 12% increase since hitting a two-month low of $56,800 on May 2, according to CoinGecko. Nonetheless, it remains down 13.6% from its all-time high of $73,740 set on March 13.

🐋 Bitcoin's Big Appetite

According to Ki Young Ju, the CEO of CryptoQuant, Bitcoin whales have made a significant move in the cryptocurrency market by acquiring nearly $3 billion worth of the digital asset within a mere 24-hour period. Ki Young Ju shared this revelation with his extensive following of 345,000 users on X, a social media platform. The surge in activity among these deep-pocketed investors suggests the onset of a new era in the world of cryptocurrency.

Using CryptoQuant's search filters, Ki Young Ju identified whales of Bitcoin, the top crypto asset by market cap, who hold a minimum of 100 BTC and executed a transaction within the span of 24 hours. Notably, these transactions excluded wallets associated with centralised exchanges (CEX) or mining operations. This influx of whale activity surrounding Bitcoin comes amidst a notable omission – it is unrelated to the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January.

Last month, Ki Young Ju highlighted a distinct trend in the cryptocurrency landscape: newer crypto whales, defined as investors holding at least 1,000 Bitcoin with an average coin age of less than 155 days, had amassed nearly double the amount of BTC compared to their long-term holder counterparts. Long-term holder whales, on the other hand, possess at least 1,000 Bitcoin with an average coin age of 155 days or more. This shift in ownership dynamics was attributed to the transfer of older Bitcoin tokens to new holders, following a notable peak in Bitcoin's average dormancy rate, which reached a 13-year high.

As of the time of writing, Bitcoin is valued at $63,582, representing a 2.86% increase in the past 24 hours. This price movement coincides with the heightened activity observed among Bitcoin whales, suggesting significant dynamics at play within the cryptocurrency market.

⛽ Gas

Gas is a critical concept in the Ethereum network, representing the fee users pay for executing transactions. Every transaction on Ethereum requires a certain amount of gas, which is priced in Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain. This fee compensates Ethereum validators, who expend computational resources to process and validate transactions. By attaching a gas fee to transactions, Ethereum incentivizes validators to maintain the network's security and efficiency. Additionally, gas serves as a deterrent against spam or malicious activities on the blockchain, as users must pay for each operation they execute. In essence, gas plays a vital role in ensuring the reliability and integrity of the Ethereum network.