- The price of BTC increased by 69% in the first quarter.
- However, during the same period, the blockchain witnessed a decline in activity.
User activity on Bitcoin [BTC] The network fell in the first quarter despite the significant increase in the price of its currency during that period, Messari found in a new report.
In its report titled ‘State of Bitcoin Q1 2024’, the onchain data provider found that during the 90-day period, demand for the Bitcoin network fell.
The average daily number of addresses that completed at least one transaction on the blockchain during the quarter totaled 895,000. This marked a 5% decline from the 937,000 average daily active addresses on the Bitcoin network in the last quarter of 2023.
The decline in the number of active addresses on the blockchain resulted in a decline in the number of completed transactions during the quarter under review. According to Messari, average daily transactions on the network fell by 15.3%.
Commenting on what could be responsible for the decline in network activity, Messari said:
“The changes suggest that the decline in transactions may be due to reduced activity from bots or ‘super users’ (users who frequently transact and account for a large portion of the activity).”
As a result of the decrease in the number of transactions on the network, the average fee per transaction also decreased. During the quarter under review, the Bitcoin network’s total fees fell by 42%.
Some victories to his name
The first quarter of the year saw a significant increase in the value of BTC. Between January 1 and March 31, the price of the coin increased by 69%. The coin ended the quarter at $71,310, hitting a new all-time high in the quarter.
Messari said spot BTC ETFs, which received their long-awaited approval in January, were “perhaps the biggest catalyst” for the recorded price growth. During the first quarter, all eleven ETF providers recorded inflows totaling $12.04 billion.
The quarter was also marked by an increase in block size due to inscription-related activities.
Read Bitcoin’s [BTC] Price forecast 2024-25
According to Messari:
“More recently, on March 2, 2024, Marathon mined a 3.99 MB block. Afterwards, F2Pool mined a 3.97 MB block on March 30, 2024.”
In terms of network security, hashrate increased 19% quarter-over-quarter. At the time of writing, the Bitcoin network hashrate stood at 688.8973E, up 16% since early April, according to BitInfoCharts facts.