In March 2024 Bitcoin BTC reached a new all-time high with prices exceeding 73000 USD marking a milestone for the cryptocurrency market This surge was due to the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds ETFs in the United States allowing investors to access Bitcoin without directly holding it This development increased Bitcoin’s credibility and brought fresh demand from institutional investors echoing previous price surges in 2021 when Tesla announced its 15 billion investment in Bitcoin and Coinbase was listed on the Nasdaq By the end of 2022 Bitcoin prices dropped sharply to 15000 USD following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its bankruptcy which caused a loss of confidence in the market By August 2024 Bitcoin rebounded to approximately 64178 USD but remained volatile due to inflation and interest rate hikes Unlike fiat currency like the US dollar Bitcoin’s supply is finite with 21 million coins as its maximum supply By September 2024 over 92 percent of Bitcoin had been mined Bitcoin’s value is tied to its scarcity and its mining process is regulated through halving events which cut the reward for mining every four years making it harder and more energy-intensive to mine The next halving event in 2024 will reduce the reward to 3125 BTC from its current 625 BTC The final Bitcoin is expected to be mined around 2140 The energy required to mine Bitcoin has led to criticisms about its environmental impact with estimates in 2021 suggesting that one Bitcoin transaction used as much energy as Argentina Bitcoin’s future price is difficult to predict due to the influence of large holders known as whales who own about 92 percent of all Bitcoin These whales can cause dramatic market swings by making large trades and many retail investors still dominate the market While institutional interest has grown it remains a small fraction compared to retail Bitcoin is vulnerable to external factors like regulatory changes and economic crises leading some to believe it is in a speculative bubble However others argue that Bitcoin is still in its early stages of adoption and will grow further as more institutions and governments recognize its potential as a hedge against inflation and a store of value 2024 has also seen the rise of Bitcoin Layer 2 technologies like the Lightning Network which improve scalability by enabling faster and cheaper transactions These innovations are crucial for Bitcoin’s wider adoption especially for day-to-day use and cross-border remittances At the same time central bank digital currencies CBDCs are gaining traction as several governments including China and the European Union have accelerated the development of their own state-controlled digital currencies while Bitcoin remains decentralized offering financial sovereignty for those who prefer independence from government control The rise of CBDCs is expected to increase interest in Bitcoin as a hedge against these centralized currencies Bitcoin’s journey in 2024 highlights its growing institutional acceptance alongside its inherent market volatility While the approval of Bitcoin ETFs has significantly boosted interest the market remains sensitive to events like exchange collapses and regulatory decisions With the limited supply of Bitcoin and improvements in its transaction efficiency it is expected to remain a key player in the financial world for years to come Whether Bitcoin is currently in a speculative bubble or on a sustainable path to greater adoption will ultimately be revealed over time.

Bitcoin's blockchain size was close to reaching 5450 gigabytes in 2024, as the database saw exponential growth by nearly one gigabyte every few days. The Bitcoin blockchain contains a continuously growing and tamper-evident list of all Bitcoin transactions and records since its initial release in January 2009. Bitcoin has a set limit of 21 million coins, the last of which will be mined around 2140, according to a forecast made in 2017. Bitcoin mining: A somewhat uncharted world Despite interest in the topic, there are few accurate figures on how big Bitcoin mining is on a country-by-country basis. Bitcoin's design philosophy is at the heart of this. Created out of protest against governments and central banks, Bitcoin's blockchain effectively hides both the country of origin and the destination country within a (mining) transaction. Research involving IP addresses placed the United States as the world's most Bitcoin mining country in 2022 - but the source admits IP addresses can easily be manipulated using VPN. Note that mining figures are different from figures on Bitcoin trading: Africa and Latin America were more interested in buying and selling BTC than some of the world's developed economies. Bitcoin developments Bitcoin's trade volume slowed in the second quarter of 2023, after hitting a noticeable growth at the beginning of the year. The coin outperformed most of the market. Some attribute this to the announcement in June 203 that BlackRock filed for a Bitcoin ETF. This iShares Bitcoin Trust was to use Coinbase Custody as its custodian. Regulators in the United States had not yet approved any applications for spot ETFs on Bitcoin.

Graph and download economic data for Coinbase Bitcoin (CBBTCUSD) from 2014-12-01 to 2025-03-25 about cryptocurrency and USA.

Daily cryptocurrency data (transaction count, on-chain transaction volume, value of created coins, price, market cap, and exchange volume) in CSV format. The data sample stretches back to December 2013. Daily on-chain transaction volume is calculated as the sum of all transaction outputs belonging to the blocks mined on the given day. “Change” outputs are not included. Transaction count figure doesn’t include coinbase transactions. Zcash figures for on-chain volume and transaction count reflect data collected for transparent transactions only. In the last month, 10.5% (11/18/17) of ZEC transactions were shielded, and these are excluded from the analysis due to their private nature. Thus transaction volume figures in reality are higher than the estimate presented here, and NVT and exchange to transaction value lower. Data on shielded and transparent transactions can be found here and here. Decred data doesn’t include tickets and voting transactions. Monero transaction volume is impossible to calculate due to RingCT which hides transaction amounts.

Bitcoin's transaction volume was at its highest in December 2023, when the network processed over 724,000 coins on the same day. Bitcoin generally has a higher transaction activity than other cryptocurrencies, except Ethereum. This cryptocurrency is often processed more than one million times per day. Note that the transaction volume here refers to transactions registered within the Bitcoin blockchain. It should not be confused with Bitcoin's 24-hour trade volume, a metric associated with crypto exchanges. The more Bitcoin transactions, the more it is used in B2C payments? A Bitcoin transaction recorded in the blockchain can be any transaction, including B2C but also P2P. While it is possible to see in the blockchain which address sent Bitcoin to whom, details on who this person is and where they are from are often missing. Bitcoin was designed to go against monetary authorities and prides itself on being anonymous. An important argument against Bitcoin replacing cash or cards in payments is that the cryptocurrency was not allowed for such a task: Bitcoin ranks among the slowest cryptocurrencies in terms of transaction speed. Are cryptocurrencies taking over payments? Cryptocurrency payments are set to grow at a CAGR of nearly 17 percent between 2022 and 2029, although the market is relatively small. The forecast is according to a market estimate made in early 2023, based on various conditions and sources available at that time. Research across 40 countries during the same time suggested that the market share of cryptocurrency in e-commerce transactions was "less than one percent" in all surveyed countries, with predictions being this would not change in the future.

The estimated time with which Kraken would confirm a deposit of certain cryptocurrencies varied from between near-instantaneous to up to several hours. Bitcoin, for instance, could take around 40 minutes - depending on the fees involved - whereas tokens like Cardano or Solana could be handled almost immediately. The transaction speed matters as it indicates which cryptocurrency is more efficient. A higher efficiency means that the blockchain underneath the coin is more capable of transferring data from one party to the other and confirm transactions. Transaction speed can be influenced by several factors, including block time, block size, transaction fees, and network traffic.

Consumers do not see crypto as an important payment method for online shopping in 2026, according to a forecast on crypto transactions. Even though the source predicts growth between 2022 and 2026, the market size of cryptocurrencies as a B2C - or P2B, as the source describes it - method will be less than 0.5 percent of global e-commerce transaction value. This relatively slow growth occurs elsewhere too: Crypto transactions within payment gateways will grow at a CAGR of nearly 17 percent between 2022 and 2029. The source adds that eight out of 10 respondents held cryptocurrencies purely for investments, as opposed to 18 percent who stated they used crypto for shopping. The most popular product to buy with crypto in 2022 was not fashion or electronics, but mobile data.