- CoinMetrics data shows the Bitcoin blockchain registered over $8 trillion worth of transfers in 2022.
- According to the data, the total amount transferred via the blockchain fell off in the second half of the year.
- Bitcoin also saw an increase in blockchain size and hashrate, with 16% and 56% annual growth rates respectively.
Bitcoin continues to fluctuate below $17,000 as the cryptocurrency market enters 2023 on the back of continuing uncertainty after a brutal 2022.
But while prices fell massively throughout the year to see Bitcoin trade nearly 60% down over the past year, data shows the flagship cryptocurrency still saw decent on-chain value transfer.
Over $8 trillion transferred via Bitcoin blockchain
According to data recently shared by crypto and blockchain analytics platform CoinMetrics, 2022 saw over $8.2 trillion worth of value transferred via the Bitcoin blockchain. The transactions amounted to value worth $260,000 per second transferred on the network.
James Lopp, the co-founder and CTO of crypto custody startup Casa, shared the statistic on Twitter.
.@coinmetrics estimates (by removing likely change outputs) that $8.2T was transferred via the Bitcoin blockchain in 2022, averaging $260,000 per second. pic.twitter.com/LaQgAsu82k
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) January 1, 2023
Per the data, the most value was transferred in the first half of the year, with the largest chunk of these seen in March to early May. The bear market and the contagion that followed the demise of Terra Luna and several crypto-focused companies marked the beginning of a downturn that persisted throughout the year.
Blockchain grew 16%, hashrate 56%
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin blockchain size increased from 383.3 GB to 446 GB, showing an annual growth rate of roughly 16.4%.
The network hashrate also increased despite the bear market crash that pushed multiple miners into bankruptcy. Data on total network hashrate growth for 2022 showed a 56% jump, from 175 exahashes per second (EH/s) to 274 EH/s.