Bitcoin UTXO reaches its new peak at 64.5 million txns at the end of 2019

By Polkadot News 01/1/20 11:23 PM

The Bitcoin UTXO reaches an all-time high at the end of 2019, even though the price drops by a massive 68%. BTC hit its local high in a bear run on June 26, a day when 1 BTC was worth $13,800. However, the BTC holders seemed to be not surprised by the drop, while the UTXOs has been on a steady rise.

Until 31 December, the total Bitcoin UTXO had hit a massive 64.49 million, which is a 30% increase since the start of 2019. Basically, UTXO represents the residual Bitcoin after a transaction. UTXOs in loss indicates that the price of BTC was higher at the time of creation.

Each bitcoin transaction has the ability to generate or change UTXO, which is then redistributed to a change address. In 2019, bitcoin saw an increase in both small wallets and whale stores of 1,000 BTC and above. Coin trends have also responded to market conditions almost immediately, with transfers growing as BTC prices went through short-term rallies.

Jameson Lopp showed that UTXO transactions were happening more often, with a clear growth trend in 2019.

Bitcoin’s UTXO set rose from 49.6M to an all-time high of 64.5M, adding a net new UTXO every 2 seconds. https://t.co/temn8DGaEy pic.twitter.com/oz4dxRPBTj

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 30, 2019

In addition, Glassnode’s tweet explains the reason for an increasing UTXO on 16 December, stating that after BTC’s local top in June, fewer transactions require less UTXOs to be created. That in combination with the declining price caused the number of UTXOs in a loss to remain at ATH for weeks.

1/ UTXO metrics suggest that investors are staying put despite being at a loss.

After #BTC‘s local top in June, fewer transactions require less UTXOs to be created.

That in combination with the declining price, caused the number of UTXOs in a loss to remain at ATH since weeks. pic.twitter.com/nGctzxaYl9

— glassnode (@glassnode) December 15, 2019

Another method to view UTXO is to use the MRVR ratio developed by Murad Murad Mahmudov and David Puell. MRVR is the indicator of market cap to realized cap and the measure of this using a Z-score provides a clear picture of the market cycle with tops and bottoms.

Bitcoin transactions have grown almost continuously over the years, along with the wallets generated. But in 2019, bitcoin saw an increase in both small-scale wallets, and “whale” stashes of 1,000 BTC and above. Coin movements have also responded to market conditions almost immediately, with transfers growing as BTC prices went through short-term rallies.