Bitcoin Transaction Volume: Fact vs Fiction
Introduction
Nick Carter, co-founder of Coin Metrics, says Bitcoin has not upstaged Visa in terms of annual transaction volume, pointing to incorrect data collected by on-chain companies.
Bitcoin (BTC) is not even close to the transaction volume levels that Visa handles. At least that’s what Nick Carter, partner at Castle Island Ventures and co-founder of Coin Metrics, said on… Recent post on X.
The Coin Metrics co-founder said that the value of the Bitcoin chain declined significantly in 2023. He noted that the annual volume of the network has not grown since 2021.
Bitcoin vs Visa: The Numbers
According to his calculations, adjusted BTC volumes for 2023 are “$3.1 billion per year,” which is a quarter of Visa’s annual volumes. Any claims to the contrary are based on “poorly adjusted metrics for on-chain Bitcoin settlement value,” Carter says.
“If you don’t remove a lot of the spurious transactions and change the transactions, you’re going to get a dramatically inflated number. The difference is really stark.”
Nick Carter
Carter admitted that on-chain value is “very subjective and difficult to define.” He reiterated his position, saying there was no doubt from his seat that the Bitcoin settlement volume did not exceed the Visa settlement volume.
Contrasting Views
Carter’s statement comes shortly after William Clementi, co-founder of Reflection Research, published a post on X.
Clemente stated that Bitcoin has surpassed Visa’s annual transaction volume. He is too He added He was using change-adjusted Glassnode volume, noting that he wasn’t sure what the difference was in the methodology.
Conclusion
While there are contrasting views on the transaction volume of Bitcoin compared to Visa, Nick Carter’s analysis suggests that Bitcoin still has a long way to go before it can match Visa’s transaction volume. The debate surrounding this topic continues, and it remains to be seen how the metrics for on-chain Bitcoin settlement value will be adjusted to provide a more accurate representation of its transaction volume.


