Bitcoin on-chain activity is increasing even though the asset remains in a bear market.
The number of Bitcoin transactions recently exceeded 820,000 per day, according to data from Glassnode. The rise comes as bitcoin trades around $62,000, about 50% below its October all-time high, a period when network activity would normally be expected to weaken.
The transaction count is the highest since April 23, 2024, immediately following the latest halving event and the debut of the Runes protocol, a Bitcoin fungible token standard, which brought with it a considerable increase in transaction fees.
Similar to how ERC-20 tokens work on Ethereum, Runes allows users to create and transfer fungible assets directly into Bitcoin.
Runes appears to once again be driving a surge in Bitcoin activity, with transactions carrying Rune protocol messages, known as Runestones, surpassing 600,000 per day, also marking a two-year high, Glassnode data shows.
