The Bitcoin network has hit a monumental achievement, processing its one billionth transaction. This marks a significant moment for the network, which has been in operation for 15 years since its creation.
The Billionth Transaction: A Landmark Event
Clark Moody’s Bitcoin dashboard revealed that the billionth transaction occurred in block 842,241 at 9:34 pm UTC on May 5. This milestone comes precisely 15 years, four months, and four days after the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, mined the network’s inaugural block on January 3, 2009.
Throughout its existence spanning 5,603 days, the network has maintained an average of 178,475 daily transactions. However, it’s worth noting that this count excludes transactions conducted on the Lightning Network, a layer-2 payment protocol designed to facilitate quicker transactions.
Bitcoin’s Lightning Network’s Impact
Data from the Bitcoin-exclusive exchange River indicates that the Lightning Network processed an estimated 6.6 million transactions in August 2023 alone. This suggests that since its launch in January 2018, hundreds of millions of transactions have occurred via the Lightning Network.
Following the network’s fourth halving event on April 20, daily transactions on Bitcoin surged, peaking at a record high of 926,000 transactions on April 23. This increase in activity was partly attributed to the launch of the Runes protocol at block 840,000. However, as of May 4, the daily transaction count has cooled off to 660,260.
Comparison with Ethereum
While Bitcoin holds the title as the oldest cryptocurrency network, it’s not the first to process one billion transactions. Its primary competitor, Ethereum, has surpassed two billion transactions since its inception in July 2015, as per Etherscan data.
As of the latest update, Bitcoin is valued at $63,750, reflecting a 12% increase from its recent low of $56,800 on May 2, according to CoinGecko. Nevertheless, it remains 13.6% below its all-time high of $73,740 recorded on March 13.
