Analysis: Bitcoin network activity approaches historic highs, with small transactions and inscription activities driving daily transaction volume past 800k transactions.

BlockBeats News, June 19, CryptoQuant data shows that Bitcoin network activity has risen to just about 7% below the 2024 September historical peak, and for the first time since mid-2024, it has broken through the long-term trend line, mainly driven by a large number of small transactions rather than traditional economic payment activities.

In 2026, the daily number of Bitcoin transactions has exceeded 800k, more than doubling the 2025 low point and approaching the high points of the 2023 to 2025 cycle. CryptoQuant believes this growth has structural characteristics rather than short-term fluctuations.

Among them, small transactions below 0.01 BTC have increased to about 80%, far higher than approximately 44% in 2023. This change is closely related to the use of OP_RETURN, which is near historical highs. CryptoQuant points out that protocols such as Runes, Ordinals, BRC-20, and data timestamp services generate a large number of low-value transactions by writing data to blocks, with some transaction amounts as low as 546 satoshis.

As inscription activity increases, the Bitcoin mempool backlog has risen to about 128k transactions, the highest level since February 2025. Although still below the extreme congestion levels of September 2023 and November 2024, the report suggests that non-financial transactions are occupying an increasing share of Bitcoin network throughput. If this trend continues, it could push up transaction fees for economically time-sensitive transactions.

Meanwhile, the rise in on-chain activity contrasts with capital flow trends. On June 1, Bitcoin and Ethereum spot funds experienced a net outflow of over $528 million, but institutional investors still view ETF fund flows as the core driver of this cycle and maintain a baseline expectation that Bitcoin will reach $150k by the end of the year.