From the genesis block to breaching the $100,000 mark, the Bitcoin network has processed 1.12 billion transactions worth $131.25 trillion, evolving from a “small corner of the internet into a part of the global financial infrastructure.” Glassnode has outlined the milestones of this “journey.”
#Bitcoin crossing $100K is a monumental milestone in its evolution into a global financial force. This week’s edition of Glassnode’s Week On-Chain newsletter tells the fascinating story of this journey through the lens of #onchain data: https://t.co/gxqUraZizs pic.twitter.com/2HHO3EAMT8
— glassnode (@glassnode) December 12, 2024
Analysts noted that over the past 5,256 trading days, miners have extracted 19.79 million BTC (94.2% of the 21 million BTC), earning $71.49 billion ($67.31 billion from block rewards and $4.18 billion in fees).
The market capitalization of digital gold surpassed $2 trillion, overtaking that of silver.
During this period, 72 positive monthly candles were recorded (including December 2024) with an average gain of 37.4%. Bitcoin closed 71 months in the red with an average loss of 14.2%.
Investors realized a total of $1.27 trillion in profits and $592 billion in losses. The realized capitalization amounted to $750 billion, highlighting the immense value investors have directed into the network over its existence.
Supply Distribution
Of the total mined bitcoins, the distribution among various participant groups by wallet size is as follows:
- <0.001 BTC: 5,491 BTC (0.027%);
- 0.001-0.01 BTC: 42,683 BTC (0.216%);
- 0.01-0.1 BTC: 271,641 BTC (1.373%);
- 0.1-1 BTC: 1,077,839 BTC (5.446%);
- 1-10 BTC: 2,093,845 BTC (10.581%);
- 10-100 BTC: 4,306,780 BTC (21.761%);
- 100-1000 BTC: 4,342,868 BTC (21.935%);
- 1000-10,000 BTC: 4,693,216 BTC (23.716%);
- 10,000-100,000 BTC: 2,309,654 BTC (11.671%);
- >100,000 BTC: 647,934 BTC (3.274%).
The majority of large wallets (>1000 BTC) are associated with exchanges, ETFs, and major institutional entities like MicroStrategy.
Each represents collective ownership—from thousands to millions of clients and shareholders.
As of December 5, exchange balances stood at 1.8 million BTC (9.1% of supply), BTC-ETF issuers held 1.1 million BTC (5.6%), miners (excluding Patoshi) held 700,000 BTC (3.5%), and the US authorities held 187,000 BTC (0.9%).
This underscores the growing institutionalization and centralization of Bitcoin storage, balancing individual ownership with larger players who provide market liquidity and stability, experts noted.
Network Evolution
Since the creation of the genesis block, the number of subsequent blocks reached 873,304, with an average formation time of 11.8 minutes.
The current average interval between them is about 9.6 minutes, thanks to increased hash rate.
In the early years of the blockchain, the figure significantly exceeded the target 10 minutes. Analysts attributed this to Satoshi’s overestimation of a laptop processor’s power compared to the initial difficulty settings.
The network’s difficulty has increased significantly. After 418 adjustments, excluding periods of absence, the figure reached 446 T.
The hash rate grew from 128,185 H/s to over 804 EH/s. Miners have computed about 5.01 x 1028 hashes to date. 37% of the total amount is attributed to 2024.
After filtering 1.12 billion transactions for internal transfers (between the same network participant), experts identified 840 million “real” transactions.
In value terms, the Bitcoin blockchain processed $131.25 trillion, and after filtering, $11.63 trillion (8.86% of the total volume).
“Most transactions are economic in nature. However, the vast majority are explained by the actions of large exchanges and custodial wallet management,” the specialists concluded.
Previously, journalists from the Financial Times “apologized” after Bitcoin breached its ATH. The authors of Alphaville criticized the first cryptocurrency “before it became mainstream,” starting with an article in 2011. Since then, they have continued to argue that Bitcoin is a “negative-sum game.”