Bit Coin (Bitcoin) chain suddenly slows down in summer 2025. The seven-day moving average shows daily transaction volume is only about 350,000, forming a stark contrast with the peak of over 700,000 transactions during Runes and Ordinals in 2024; average transaction fees have long been below $1.50, allowing users to complete transfers for less than the cost of a coffee.
According to The Block report, the 350,000 transaction level is an 18-month low, directly reflecting the cooling of on-chain activity. Transaction fees have also bottomed out, with block space competition significantly reduced, impacting miner revenues.
NFT Feast Disperses: Runes and Ordinals Hype Fades
Ordinals allowed developers to "inscribe" data on Satoshi, while Runes optimized early BRC-20 and sparked Non-Fungible Token demand. In just four months, they drove 15.6 million transactions, generating $162 million in fee income. Subsequently, traders shifted to chains like Ethereum and Solana that natively support Non-Fungible Tokens and DeFi, causing traffic to rapidly decline. Cointelegraph and Bitrue both tracked this trend, but the topic has now clearly cooled down.
'1 sat/vB' Defense: Slipstream Sparks Consensus Debate
Bitcoin Core by default refuses to relay transactions below 1 sat/vB to prevent DDoS. Mining pool MARA, seeing low fee demand, launched "Slipstream" to bypass nodes and directly enter blocks. Supporters believe it can avoid censorship during fee pressure, while critics worry about lowering network health standards. 31 Core developers warned in a statement: relay policies belong to node freedom, but should not evolve into content censorship. MARA's action brings technical details to the forefront and reflects miners' income anxiety.
Future Outlook: Miner Transformation and Technical Upgrades
Low transaction volume and rates make miners heavily dependent on block rewards. If ETF funds continue flowing in as Learn2Trade suggests, without simultaneously driving on-chain usage, services like Slipstream might become alternative revenue sources. Bitcoin must attract application traffic again through data cap adjustments, Layer-2 expansions, and other upgrades. As speculative fireworks fade, whether technical and business models can keep up will determine the next chapter of the story.
