The first quarter of 2023 turned out to be stunning for bitcoin.
After a disappointing 2022, the largest digital currency has risen about 70% in recent months. Increased network activity suggests that acceptance of BTC is expanding and the market is gradually recovering.
The network processed more than 800 million transactions totaling up to $107 trillion in the first quarter. Analysts recall that the BTC blockchain has been around since 2008.
The number of active bitcoin addresses continues to grow. According to Bitinfocharts, the average daily number of addresses sending and receiving funds daily exceeded 600,000 last quarter.
Since January, small and mid-sized wallets with balances of less than 10 BTC have shown the most activity. They have accumulated up to 17% of the total cryptocurrency supply in three months.
Thanks to increased network activity, miners’ revenues have roughly doubled, and bitcoin hash rates exceeded 400 Eh/s at the end of March.
The Lightning network has also grown significantly, according to a report by Valkyrie Investments.
Sending funds through the Lightning Network is most popular with BTC holders living in South America and Africa.