According to ChainCatcher, CryptoQuant data shows that Bitcoin network activity has climbed to a level only about 7% below its September 2024 all-time high. The metric has also broken above its long-term trend line for the first time since mid-2024. CryptoQuant attributed the latest increase mainly to a large volume of small-value transactions rather than traditional economic payment activity.
Bitcoin daily transaction count in 2026 has exceeded 800,000, more than doubling from the 2025 low and approaching the highs seen during the 2023-to-2025 cycle. CryptoQuant said the growth now shows structural characteristics rather than short-term fluctuation. The composition of transactions has also changed significantly: transactions below 0.01 BTC now account for about 80% of the total, far above the roughly 44% level recorded in 2023.
The report linked this shift closely to OP_RETURN usage approaching historical highs. Protocols and services including Runes, Ordinals, BRC-20 and data timestamping generate large numbers of low-value transactions by writing data into Bitcoin blocks. Some of these transactions involve amounts as low as 546 satoshis, indicating that non-payment use cases have become a major contributor to the network’s rising activity.
As inscription-related activity has increased, the number of pending Bitcoin mempool transactions has risen to about 128,000, the highest level since February 2025. CryptoQuant noted that this is still below the extreme congestion levels seen in September 2023 and November 2024. Even so, the report said non-financial transactions are taking up a growing share of Bitcoin network throughput, and if the trend continues, fees for time-sensitive economic transactions could face upward pressure.
The rise in on-chain activity contrasts with fund flow data. Bitcoin and Ethereum spot funds recorded combined net outflows of more than $528 million. However, institutional investors still regard ETF flows as the key driver of the current cycle and maintain a baseline expectation that Bitcoin will reach $150,000 by year-end.