Bitcoin network UTXO reaches 64.5 million, continues to grow and hits record high

(Image source: pixabay )

According to a Bitcoinist report on January 3, the number of Bitcoin UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output) continues to grow and hit a record high. Here are a few explanations of why it is growing:

Reasons for UTXO growth

Every Bitcoin transaction (input) generates UTXO (output), which redistributes the bitcoin of the transaction into a changed address. Jameson Lopp pointed out that in 2019 UTXO transactions become more and more frequent, showing a clear growth trend.

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Bitcoin's UTXO has increased from 49.6 million to 64.5 million, a record high, which is equivalent to adding a new UTXO every two seconds. (Image source: Twitter )

The level of UTXO may be related to the mining activities of miners on the one hand and the use of Mixer on the other hand. Bitcoin Mixer is a solution that protects user privacy, allowing users to mix their Bitcoin transactions with other users, preventing others from associating their Bitcoin address with their real-world identity.

But the most optimistic explanation for UTXO's growth is that the use of microbitcoin is getting more and more frequent (and its value is getting higher and higher). The amount of spent bitcoin flowing in the bitcoin ecosystem is growing, and user demand for small bitcoins is also increasing. But at current prices, bitcoin usage is similar to 2018 levels. In addition, there is almost no transaction behavior of Bitcoin in the large-scale hoarding address, and the current surge in UTXO transactions mainly comes from Bitcoin dedicated to transactions and active use.

In 2019, we again see that UTXO that has been spent seems to have nothing to do with the price of Bitcoin. UTXO's average spending rate is 16 bitcoins per second, which is only slightly higher than 13 bitcoins per second in 2018. (Image source: Twitter )

Over the years, Bitcoin transactions have continued to grow, and the number of new wallets (addresses) generated has also increased. But in 2019, the number of addresses holding a small amount of Bitcoin and more than 1,000 "whale" addresses both increased.

Changes in other indicators of Bitcoin in 2019

Bitcoin believer Lopp tracks other indicators of Bitcoin in 2019. One of these indicators shows that mining development has become a highly competitive activity. In terms of network security, the Bitcoin protocol reached a high point of defense against attacks in November this year.

(Image source: Twitter )

As Bitcoin's hash rate continues to increase in 2019, the time required for an attacker to rewrite the entire Bitcoin blockchain with 100% of the current computing power is reduced to 100 days. http://bitcoin.sipa.be

Assuming a miner has enough computing power to match the current network, it will still take months to rewrite the entire blockchain. This scenario is almost impossible to achieve in the real world, and it demonstrates the power of the Bitcoin network.

Nevertheless, bitcoin mining has made remarkable progress in 2019, its scale has increased by 162%, and China has become a big bitcoin mining country.

The hash rate of Bitcoin's network has increased by 162% in 2019, from 38 exahash to 100 exahash per second. http://bitcoin.sipa.be (Image source: Twitter )

Regardless of the data, Bitcoin is still an asset, and its price range and usage are constantly changing. There have been many anomalies in the Bitcoin network, from deliberately sending spam to dust attacks that generate millions of small transactions. There are also many new players in the Bitcoin space. From startups to crypto-based finance, everyone can become a giant whale through transactions.

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