In 2021, the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) blockchain had processed $3 trillion worth of transactions.
What Happened: According to a report from NYDIG, Bitcoin’s annual transaction volume for 2021 surpassed credit card networks American Express (NYSE:AXP) and Discover (NYSE:DFS).
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American Express settled $1.2 trillion in transaction volume last year, while Discover settled $504 billion.
Bitcoin’s $3.02 trillion of annual transaction volume still falls below payments giants like Visa Inc (NYSE:V) and Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) that settled $13.5 trillion and $7.7 trillion respectively in 2021.
Still, as NYDIG noted, Bitcoin claiming the number 3 spot after Visa and Mastercard after just 13 years in existence is a testament to the network’s growing adoption across the world.
“That transaction volume growth, while not always even year-to-year, has kept up at a torrid pace when looking at 5-year compound annual growth rates. At the end of 2021, transaction volumes have been growing by nearly 100% annually over the past 5 years,” NYDIG stated in the report.
“This measure of Bitcoin transaction volumes (entity adjusted) does not report the raw volume of transaction volume on the chain, but rather relies on statistical analysis by data providers (such as Glassnode) to remove transactions without economic substance,” explained NYDIG.
It is worth noting that this method of measuring transaction volumes could potentially explain the discrepancy in an earlier finding by Ark Invest that reported Bitcoin had surpassed Visa’s transaction volumes last year.
Price Action: At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $38,836.57, up 4.21% in the last 24 hours.
Photo: Courtesy of BTC Keychain on Flickr