Bitcoin reaches 1 billion transactions. Is there a higher number?

Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has reached a milestone by processing its billionth transaction. This achievement highlights the strong activity and growing adoption of Bitcoin despite volatile market conditions.

The Bitcoin community, especially on social media platforms like X (Twitter), was abuzz. The enthusiasm highlights the importance of this milestone for investors and enthusiasts.

The way forward: Bitcoin after 1 billion transactions

On-chain data confirmed this historic moment for Bitcoin. The dashboard appears from Clark Moody The number of transactions ever made on the Bitcoin network has reached 1,000,193,647. Additionally, data from Swan The billion transactions milestone was reached with a block height of 842,241.

Recent data from Glassnode indicates that April 23 is the day with the highest number of Bitcoin transactions in 2024 so far. On that date, 926,842 transactions were recorded while the price of Bitcoin was $66,403. However, the previous day's transaction count was 625,859, with Bitcoin price around $64,000.

Learn more: A Practical Guide to Bitcoin BTC Transactions

Despite this success, the scalability of Bitcoin remains a subject of debate. Cryptocurrency analyst Colin Tookes Crypto shared his insights. He argues that potential scaling challenges and issues remain as Bitcoin continues to grow.

It is expected that Bitcoin Price There could be an “exhilarating rise to the highs,” leading to massive congestion and a significant increase in transaction fees. Such scenarios can make transactions unaffordable for many. Since fees can exceed the balance in over 90% of Bitcoin addresses, rendering these balances essentially unusable.

"It could also mean weeks or even months of waiting until the backlog of transactions is cleared from the memory pool. That's when I think things will have a chance to change (…) Only when congestion and fees become severe enough will most people do so. “There will be enough protests to eventually increase block sizes. In my opinion, things may need to get worse from the 2015-2017 transaction backlog and high fees for this change to happen.” he added Colin.

Colin's perspective highlights a critical debate within the Bitcoin community between "big blockers" and "small blockers." Big blockers are calling for increasing block sizes to handle more transactions and reduce fees. On the contrary, the latter resists such changes and focuses on maintaining decentralization and security.

Additionally, Cullen also criticizes the effectiveness of the Lightning Network, a proposed solution to Bitcoin's scalability issues. He points out that it fails to solve fundamental problems at the base layer.

As Bitcoin navigates these challenges, the community remains divided on the best path forward. While some argue for major changes to the protocol to improve scalability, others believe that existing infrastructure, including secondary layers like the Lightning Network, will scale to meet demand. This development is expected to occur without compromising the fundamental principles of Bitcoin and will preserve the core values ​​of the system.

Amid this new stage, the performance of the Bitcoin market continues to attract attention. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $63,805, registering a 0.94% increase in the last 24 hours. This latest rise follows a rally below the $60,000 threshold, driven by a positive US jobs report the previous Friday.

Learn more: Bitcoin (BTC) Price Forecast for 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027

However, a new report from Bitfinex indicates Possible Period of Bitcoin Price Stability, which can last up to two months. This expected stability could provide respite to the market, allowing users and developers to focus on long-term solutions for scalability and usability.