Almost 500,000 New Unique Bitcoin Addresses Were Created Daily in H1 2021
The Bitcoin network continues to witness an eye-popping activity on its blockchain despite high volatility in Q2, after the asset sharply declined from its all-time high set in April 2021.
Data compiled by Blockchain Centre uncovered a stunning finding — as many as 488,206 new Bitcoin addresses were created daily in the first half of 2021, totaling 88,365,209 new addresses for the whole period. The numbers were extracted from Glassnode Studio, a gateway to on-chain data for the most popular blockchain platforms.
Diving into the analysis, January 2021 has the highest number of newly generated BTC addresses per day at 551,132. The total for the month reaches a never-before-seen height of 17,085,095 unique addresses.
As the data indicates, June 2021 sits on the other side of the spectrum, with the lowest number of newly created addresses for the period at 370,269 per day. Nonetheless, the total average volume of new addresses for the period under review is still substantial at 11,108,070 for the month.
A glance at the chart reveals that the volume of daily new addresses kept decreasing on a monthly basis. On average, daily new addresses decreased 7.49% per month in the first half of the year. The most significant drops were from April to May 2021, at -12.04%, and from May to June 2021, at -15.19%.
Even with the volume of new addresses slightly decreasing in the past months, millions of new addresses still confirm that the global adoption of digital currencies is at an all-time high.
It is worth noting that a Bitcoin address indicates the source or destination of a cryptocurrency payment. Blockchain being a public platform, people can see the current value of a particular address, the number of transactions that address completed, and the amount of cryptocurrencies it sent and received.
Blockchain experts advise generating a new Bitcoin address each time you send or receive a payment. This adds an extra layer of privacy, so that nosy third parties would have an even harder time tracing back your transactions.
Privacy is key
It’s much easier to generate a new bitcoin address than, let’s say, to open up a new bank account or even a Facebook profile. Yet, it still takes extra work, so why do consumers choose to do so? There are two compelling reasons.
For starters, it makes it more difficult for blockchain analytics firms to track how you spend your money. This does not reveal one’s identity, but it does show analysts what purchases go hand in hand, and some people find even that too much to disclose.
Second, it is slightly easier to hack an address once it has been used. It is not to say that it is currently possible. Still, if a vulnerability in the current security algorithm of Bitcoin addresses were found, the address would be easier to break into. You can rest assured that hackers are working day and night to find a way to crack the code since profits from doing so would be absurd.
There is also the element of blockchain being public, which means someone who uses a single address only needs one mistake to reveal all of their transactions.
The overall privacy and security state of the internet is in shambles, so it is no wonder that people decide to take the extra step, even if the chances of getting hacked are slim to none.
