TL;DR
- Bitcoin’s network activity is declining in transaction volume but growing in total settlement value, revealing a shift toward larger institutional players.
- While fees remain historically low, Bitcoin’s price holds above $100K, breaking with past cycles.
- Meanwhile, off-chain trading dominates, with futures and options volumes surging far beyond on-chain settlements, and leverage climbing to record levels under more stable collateral structures.
As Bitcoin remains firmly above $100K and within striking distance of its all-time high, a striking divergence has emerged between its market valuation and the level of on-chain activity. Despite the elevated price, transaction counts on the Bitcoin network have significantly declined in 2025, falling from peaks of over 730,000 daily transactions to a current range between 320,000 and 500,000. Yet, economic settlement volume has remained strong, pointing to growing institutional dominance across the global financial landscape worldwide today.
Transaction Size Trends Confirm Institutional Involvement
Over time, the average value per transaction has grown sharply, now sitting at $36,200. Data shows that transactions above $100,000 account for nearly 90% of total on-chain volume today, up from 66% just two years ago. Meanwhile, smaller transactions—under $100,000—have declined significantly in share, suggesting that retail participation on-chain is shrinking as large players dominate value flows.
Interestingly, the drop in transaction counts isn’t due to monetary transactions, which have stayed stable. Rather, the sharp contraction stems from a steep decline in non-monetary uses like Inscriptions and Runes, whose activity surged in late 2024 but has since faded.
Fee Metrics Highlight Unusual Calm
Transaction fee revenues, a traditional indicator of congestion and demand, remain low. Miners are earning just $558K per day in fees, and the Fee Revenue Multiple remains unusually high compared to previous bull markets. During past surges, rising demand drove fees skyward. Now, even as Bitcoin trades near historic highs, low fees reflect reduced pressure on block space and overall quietness on-chain.
Off-chain, however, the story is different. Centralized exchanges dominate Bitcoin activity. Spot trading averages $10B daily, and futures trading dwarfs on-chain settlement, averaging $57B per day and peaking at $122B in late 2024. Options markets also continue to grow, averaging $2.4B daily as more sophisticated investors turn to hedging and risk management strategies.
In total, combined spot, futures, and options trading volumes regularly exceed on-chain settlement by up to 16x, emphasizing the growing role of structured financial instruments in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Institutional involvement is not just increasing, it’s also reshaping Bitcoin’s market structure.
