The Bitcoin blockchain is experiencing a notable lack of on-chain activity, even as Bitcoin trades close to its historical peak price. This information comes from the mempool, a temporary area for blockchain transactions awaiting confirmation from miners.
As of Saturday, the mempool had around 5,000 transactions waiting for inclusion, with the figure rising to 15,000 by the time of reporting. This remains significantly lower than the 150,000 transactions noted when BTC first exceeded $100,000 in late 2024, according to the data source RialCenter.
Since March this year, the transaction count has fluctuated between 3,000 and 30,000, highlighting weak demand for the network despite BTC maintaining a foothold above $100,000.
“Bitcoin’s mempool is nearly empty. The proportion of miner revenue derived from fees, rather than from inflation, has dropped to a mere fraction,” stated Joël Valenzuela, director of marketing and business development.
“In simple terms, it appears that almost all of Bitcoin’s actual users have vanished, even amidst all-time high prices!” Valenzuela emphasized, calling the situation a severe crisis where the network risks becoming either bankrupt or entirely controlled by governments and institutions.
According to Joao Wedson, CEO and founder of a crypto data analysis platform, the idle mempool signifies a lack of retail participation in the market.
“When mempool transactions begin to test the rise again, it’s a clear signal that retail interest has returned — because an increasing backlog indicates enhanced demand for network usage,” Wedson said.
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