- Bitcoin network block size could expand to 4 MB per year.
- Mempool analysts believe that growth can be stimulated by inscriptions.
Bitcoin’s[BTC] Scalability can be further improved by the end of 2026 amidst the expected block size of up to 4 MB.
According to the latest report from Mempool, a research agency was focused on the Bitcoin ecosystem, which could explode inscription-driven blockchain growth in the coming years.
Part of the report read,
“If we see enormous growth in the use of Bitcoin to store random data (resulting in consistent 4 MB blocks), the blockchain would reach 1 TB at the end of 2026 … we have to have a 1 TB blockchain after 2 – 4 years old expect and 2 TB in 7 – 9 years. “
Source: Mempool
For perspective, the current block size is approximately 1.69 MB per block. This was initially closed at 1 MB before the Segwit (separate witness) upgrade in 2017, so that the network was considerably scaled.
Ask further than 1 MB
After Segwit there was an increase in inscription protocols that made extra random data (from texts to smart contracts) on the Bitcoin network possible.
In general, the demand for block space exploded beyond the limits of 1 MB, which was reported by miners and the standard settings of the network, listed mempool.
“The median block size increased to block 400,000 at which point the consensus limit of 1 MB was reached, about 1.5 years before the Segwit activation in block 481,824. After the introduction of Segwit, the block size gradually increased after a first temporary decline ”
Source: Mempool
The average growth of the block size increased between 1.11 MB and 1.69 MB, suggesting more transaction data per block.
Mempool added that the above trend of mass acceptance of inscription protocols could expand the block size to 4 MB.
However, not every Bitcoin Core Dev is happy with the prospects.
According to a renowned DEV, Luke Dash Jr JR, ordinals and inscriptions’ spam ‘and’an attack‘On the Bitcoin network. Dash has always called for the covering of block size under 1 MB to limit these ‘attacks’ vector.
Most of his X (formerly Twitter) users, however, did not support his plan to cover Bitcoin block size at 300 kB in the second half of 2025.
Source: X
Unlike Bitcoin, the theoretical block size of Solana can reach 128 MB with much higher transit. This means that Solana is more scalable but less decentralized than BTC.
However, it is still to be seen how Bitcoin’s diverse views will influence acceptance and scalability in the future.