Bitcoin’s Mempool Nearly Empty Despite Soaring Prices, Sparking Worries Over User Activity
Bitcoin’s blockchain activity has dropped to strikingly low levels, even as the asset’s price remains close to its historic highs—a contrast that’s leading some analysts to voice concerns about the health of the network.
According to Blockchain.com data, the mempool—the area where unconfirmed transactions wait before being added to the Bitcoin blockchain—has become unusually empty.
On Saturday, only about 5,000 transactions were sitting in the mempool. By the time of reporting, that figure had increased modestly to around 15,000, still a steep drop from the roughly 150,000 transactions seen when bitcoin initially broke above $100,000 in late 2024.
Since March, mempool levels have fluctuated between 3,000 and 30,000 transactions, reflecting muted demand for the network’s usage—even while bitcoin’s price has stayed consistently above $100,000. At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $108,124.52.
“Bitcoin’s mempool—the backlog of transactions waiting for confirmation—is virtually empty. The share of miner revenue coming from transaction fees, as opposed to block rewards, has fallen to just a fraction of a percent,” said Joël Valenzuela, director of marketing and business development, in a recent post on X (formerly Twitter).
Valenzuela warned that the steep drop in activity could signal a much larger problem:
“Simply put, almost all genuine users have disappeared from Bitcoin. And this is happening while the price is at record highs!” he said, describing it as a potential major crisis that could push the network toward bankruptcy or transform bitcoin into a system fully controlled by governments and institutional players.
Joao Wedson, CEO and founder of crypto analytics firm Alphractal, echoed these concerns, noting that the empty mempool suggests retail traders have largely exited the scene.
“A rise in mempool transactions is typically the strongest sign that retail traders are back because it indicates a spike in demand for using the network,” Wedson explained.
The stark divide between bitcoin’s high market valuation and the dwindling on-chain activity has sparked renewed questions about the sustainability of the rally if everyday user engagement fails to return.
