Bitcoin network transaction counts are surging to levels not seen since late 2024, even as BTC continues to trade nearly 50% below its all-time high of $126,080, according to data published by crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant.
Activity Rising, Price Falling
CryptoQuant data shows Bitcoin network activity has climbed steadily since January 2026, recently reaching its highest point since late 2024 and now sitting just 7% below the all-time high activity levels recorded in September 2024. Total and daily average transaction counts have hit near-record highs after previously contracting from December 2024 onward.
“This above-trend reading has been sustained for several weeks and marks the first positive activity regime since mid-2024, contrasting sharply with Bitcoin’s ongoing bear market price decline,” CryptoQuant wrote.
Despite the transaction count surge, BTC was recently changing hands at $63,865, down 17% over the past 30 days.
Small Transactions Driving the Volume
CryptoQuant is quick to qualify what is actually powering the activity spike. The economic value carried by the transactions is noticeably small compared with prior high-activity periods.
“The economic content of these transactions differs materially from prior high-activity periods,” the firm’s report states.
Transaction cohorts of less than 0.01 BTC and less than 0.001 BTC have each recorded a sizable uptick, together accounting for roughly 80% of daily transactions. That share has jumped sharply from 44% in 2023. CryptoQuant characterises this as “protocol-driven activity,” a pattern that maintains high volumes but carries low value per individual transaction.
OP_RETURN Usage Spikes to Near-Record Levels
A correlated rise in OP_RETURN usage is reinforcing the protocol-driven explanation. OP_RETURN is a Bitcoin transaction output field that lets users attach arbitrary data to their BTC transactions. The field previously carried a byte-size limit, which was removed after a contentious community debate last year.
“Usage has spiked to near-record levels in 2026,” CryptoQuant wrote, pointing to Bitcoin NFT activity and timestamping services as key drivers of OP_RETURN adoption. The firm noted these protocols generate high volumes of dust-value transactions, directly explaining the low-value cohort surge.
What the Divergence Means
The gap between rising on-chain activity and a falling price points to a structural shift in what is actually moving across the Bitcoin network. High-frequency, low-value, protocol-level usage is now the dominant force behind the headline transaction numbers, rather than the large-value economic transfers that have historically tracked price strength. With BTC down 17% over 30 days and still trading around half its record high, the surge in raw activity says more about how the network is being used than about renewed investor demand.
