The number of active bitcoin addresses has reached its minimum

Despite the rise in the value of bitcoin BTC $109,590.00 Bitcoin 0.03% Market capitalization $2.18 trillion VOL. 24 hours $1.87 billion to a record $ 97,000, activity in its network remains low. According to CryptoQuant, the number of active addresses hovers around 958,000, which is much lower than expected for this stage of the market. This indicates that the price increase is not accompanied by a corresponding increase in network usage.

Analysts have identified six key reasons for this phenomenon. First of all, the current rise in the price of bitcoin is largely due to external factors — the inflow of institutional capital through spot ETFs. Companies such as MicroStrategy and BlackRock are actively buying bitcoin, but their actions do not stimulate wider network use.

The second reason is the low volatility of the exchange rate. After a long consolidation period between $ 92,000 and $ 95,000, many investors chose a wait-and-see strategy, which reduced the number of transactions. Also, artificially inflating trading volumes on exchanges creates the illusion of activity that is not confirmed by real online dynamics.

Another factor is the decline in the share of bitcoin in active use. Ethereum, Solana, and other networks are taking the initiative in DeFi, staking, and memecoins. Thus, transactional activity is shifting from Bitcoin to alternative blockchains.

Second-tier solutions, such as the Lightning Network, are also growing in popularity. This causes transactions to be moved off the main blockchain, which further reduces the visible activity on the Bitcoin network. As a result, BTC is increasingly acting as a financial asset rather than a decentralized payment system.

According to analysts, without an increase in online activity, the sustainable growth of the bitcoin price is at risk. If the gap between the value and actual use does not narrow, it could result in a market correction.