According to ChainCatcher, CryptoQuant head of research Julio Moreno said transactions worth less than 0.01 BTC currently account for about 80% of the Bitcoin network’s total daily transaction volume. That share is significantly higher than the roughly 44% level recorded in 2023, indicating that small-value transfers now represent a much larger portion of Bitcoin’s on-chain activity.
OP_RETURN-based protocols drive transaction growth
Moreno said the increase is mainly driven by OP_RETURN-based on-chain data protocols, including Runes, Ordinals, BRC-20 and data timestamping services. These protocols generate a large number of small transactions on the Bitcoin network. Some of the transactions are as small as 546 satoshis, equivalent to about $0.35.
As the number of low-value transfers continues to rise, Bitcoin’s network activity index has also moved higher. Moreno said the index has been increasing since January this year and has now reached its highest level since the end of 2024.