The Bitcoin Hash Rate and Ordinals Contribute to a Surge in Daily Transactions
The Bitcoin hash rate has reached an all-time high of 439 exahashes per second (EH/s), with over 682,000 transactions processed on the Bitcoin blockchain in one day, exceeding 500,000 due to the increasing popularity of Bitcoin Ordinals. This article will examine how these milestones demonstrate the strength and stability of the network, increasing adoption of Bitcoin for various use cases, and why the surge in the hash rate reflects growing investments in mining infrastructure.
The Bitcoin Hash Rate Reaches All-Time High
The Bitcoin hash rate is a crucial indicator of the network’s health, measuring the computational power dedicated to securing the blockchain. With a higher hash rate, more miners are participating, making the network more resistant to attacks. The recent surge in the hash rate reflects growing investments in mining infrastructure despite fluctuations in Bitcoin’s price.
More territories and regions around the world are mining Bitcoin, with increasing amounts of renewable energy, allaying fears of centralization or environmental impacts that have shrouded Bitcoin mining in the past. The surge in the hash rate signifies increased confidence in the network’s security.
However, as Denver Bitcoin, a well-known Bitcoin miner with Upstream Data, highlighted, the hash rate surge may be short-lived. It’s important to “watch 1500-block to 5k-block avg time to get an understanding of true hashrate,” he shared in a tweet.
Bitcoin Ordinals and Surge in Daily Transactions
Bitcoin Ordinals are unique, nonfungible tokens built on the Bitcoin network, each representing a distinct position in the Bitcoin blockchain. Each ordinal is “inscribed” on a satoshi, the smallest denomination of Bitcoin, and owners can prove digital ownership of their sats. Ordinals have gained traction among collectors, investors, and enthusiasts, offering a new way to engage with the Bitcoin ecosystem.
For example, Bitcoin Ordinals fan Dan Held shares that altcoin advocates are engaging with Bitcoin for the first time due to the inscriptions. The number of inscriptions in a 24-hour period exceeded 350,000 on May 1, as the total number of Ordinals exceeded 3 million. Given that each Ordinal inscription also counts as a transaction, the number of Bitcoin transactions has also soared.
As more people buy, sell, and trade Bitcoin Ordinals, the number of daily transactions on the network has significantly increased to 682,000. The mempool, or the “waiting area” for incoming transactions before they are confirmed, is currently very busy. The cheapest transaction fee sits at 8 satoshis per byte, about $0.30, which is well above its lows of 1 satoshi per byte. If users want to send money to wallets on the Bitcoin base chain, the costs are significantly higher than usual due to the surging number of Ordinal inscriptions.
Conclusion
For some, Bitcoin Ordinals offer another role for the network that goes above its activities as a store of value and medium of exchange. For others, such as Adam Back, Ordinals are useless. Regardless, the surge in the Bitcoin hash rate and increasing popularity of Bitcoin Ordinals demonstrate the network’s strength and stability and the increasing adoption of Bitcoin for various use cases.
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