Bitcoin blocks are carrying roughly twice as many transactions as they used to, but the increase appears to reflect more efficient use of block space rather than a broad surge in demand. Smaller payments built on Segregated Witness, or SegWit, take up less room, allowing more transactions to fit into each block.
The distinction matters because transaction count is often cited as a measure of Bitcoin’s health. When the count doubles, it can be read as adoption. In this case, the figure is mostly measuring efficiency.
What is filling the blocks
In October 2026, daily confirmed Bitcoin transactions averaged between 700,000 and 800,000, compared with an average of about 372,000 in January 2025.
Blocks ran at around 98% capacity during this period, with average block size reaching approximately 1.5 MB. The average fee per transaction fell to around 32 cents in late October 2026.
Microtransactions, meaning payments under 0.01 BTC, now make up about 80% of total Bitcoin network activity. These small, lightweight payments fit into blocks with room to spare, so the transaction count rises without much fee competition.
A quick SegWit refresher
SegWit went live on Bitcoin in August 2017. It changed how block space is measured, moving from a simple size cap to a limit of 4 million weight units.
The key change was a discount on witness data, the signature information that proves a transaction is authorized. Under SegWit rules, that data counts for less toward the block limit than other parts of a transaction.
The upgrade boosted effective throughput for transactions that use the witness discount. It did so without raising the network’s core capacity.
Why the doubling does not signal a demand boom
If demand had truly doubled, users would be expected to compete for block space. Full blocks with heavy competition push fees higher as users pay more to jump the line.
Instead, blocks sat near 98% full while fees dropped to around 32 cents. That combination points to more efficient use of space rather than a crowd of new users seeking inclusion.
The heavy share of microtransactions reinforces the point. When about 80% of activity consists of payments under 0.01 BTC, the raw transaction count is inflated by small-ticket items.
What this means for miners and the network
Miners earn the block subsidy plus fees from every transaction they include. The research behind these figures points to falling miner fee revenue despite the high transaction volume. The network is processing more transactions while paying its security providers less per transaction.
The block subsidy shrinks over time, so fees are expected to carry more of the load for securing the network. The research flags that constrained miner revenue may create long-term challenges for network security.
For users, cheap fees on nearly full blocks mean small payments are practical on the base layer, at least under current conditions.
What to watch from here
The key questions are concrete. Does the microtransaction share keep climbing from about 80%? Do fees stay near 32 cents with blocks around 98% full? And does miner revenue find support elsewhere, or keep sliding as the network gets more efficient?
