Bitcoin Network Activity Soars on Microtransaction Surge

Bitcoin's network activity is reaching near-record highs due to an increase in microtransactions. According to CryptoQuant, microtransactions now account for approximately 80% of daily Bitcoin transactions, with most involving less than 0.01 BTC.

This surge in non-financial transactions has pushed CryptoQuant's Network Activity Index into positive territory for the first time since 2024, but its head of research Julio Moreno notes that these transactions contribute limited economic value. The rise in low-value transactions is causing congestion concerns, with Bitcoin's mempool reaching approximately 128,000 pending transactions, the highest level since February 2025.

One key driver of this trend is the OP_RETURN opcode, which allows users to embed data on-chain without creating spendable outputs. Its usage has climbed significantly in 2026 after Bitcoin Core developers relaxed relay size limits in 2025.