Down 53% from all-time high, Bitcoin usage still growing

The recent rally in Bitcoin‘s (BTC 0.21%) The price makes it difficult to remember that the leading cryptocurrency is still down 53% from its all-time high and that it remains in the middle of a bear market. But while Bitcoin’s price fluctuates, one metric has remained steady in its growth: the total number of unique addresses on the Bitcoin network.

Unlike publicly traded companies, which are required to issue quarterly earnings reports so that investors can measure their financial health, we can look to data obtained from blockchains to gain insight into a cryptocurrency’s key figures.

Still increasing address growth

A basic but effective measure of Bitcoin’s growth is the number of addresses created on the blockchain that hold a certain amount of Bitcoin. Instead of looking only at Bitcoin addresses with more than 1, 5 or 10 bitcoins (which only focuses on investors with large reserves), it says to look at all addresses for those with even a small amount of bitcoins. These are known as addresses with a non-zero balance, and few other statistics are so simple yet so meaningful.

When you look at a chart of non-zero addresses added to the Bitcoin network since its creation in 2009, one thing becomes clear: The number is increasing exponentially. Just 10 years ago in April 2013, this figure was 1.4 million. One year later, in April 2014, it doubled, and today it is at an all time high of more than 45.5 million addresses.

Arguably the most encouraging thing is that this growth was sustained even as Bitcoin weathered several bear markets.

A limited supply meets increasing demand

Like all assets with limited supply (there will only be 21 million bitcoins), when demand increases, so does the price. And it seems that demand is also finally picking up. To measure this, we can take a look at the number of transactions.

After remaining near some of the lowest levels since 2018 for most of 2022, with the arrival of the new year, the number of transactions on the Bitcoin network has increased significantly. In fact, they are as high as they have been since the bull market of 2021. Recent data shows that the month of March had the highest number of transactions in a month since January 2021.

It should be noted that transactions do not always correlate with a price increase, as transactions must be in the form of investors buying to raise Bitcoin’s price, but when you consider that it rose more than 23% in March alone, these transactions were more than probable. buy.

While a bumpy road remains, if this trend continues, it could finally put an end to one of the most brutal markets in Bitcoin’s history.

Keeping perspective

It can be easy to get caught up in the hysteria that often accompanies bear markets and crypto winters, but statistics like non-zero address growth and number of transactions show that while surface waters may seem choppy and turbulent, underneath, Bitcoin remains resilient.

When you consider that Bitcoin’s price is still depressed and near historic lows (even with the recent rally), and yet the growth in addresses and transactions continues to rise, buying Bitcoin today is about as appealing as ever.

This consistent growth is a key indicator that Bitcoin’s price is likely to remain at the mercy of limited supply and increased demand well into the future. And if the past is an indicator of this future, it could mean that Bitcoin remains one of the best performing assets ever created.