• Bitcoin has already started challenging big financial players like VISA in terms of settlement value hinting at increased adoption.
• The Bitcoin on-chain activity shows strength with hash rate and active addresses hitting new highs.

Although the Bitcoin price recently witnessed some selling pressure and volatility, the Bitcoin blockchain network continues to hit new milestones every passing day. In the latest development, Bitcoin has surpassed payments giant VISA in terms of total transaction volumes.

In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), prominent Bitcoin proponent and analyst Will Clemente shared that Bitcoin has achieved a higher transaction volume than Visa. The analyst substantiated his claim with up-to-date market metrics, highlighting the contrasting market performance of Bitcoin and Visa in recent periods.

Using technical chart data generated by Reflexivity Research, the annual settlement value of Bitcoin was compared to that of other major financial platforms, such as ACH, Fedwire, and Visa, to illustrate the asset’s performance.

Bitcoin vs. VISA – What You Should Know

Firstly, it’s important to clarify that the term “transaction volume” can be somewhat misleading. In the context of Bitcoin, a significant portion of network activity over the past year has been driven by Ordinals. This is a protocol that enables individual satoshis in the blockchain to be assigned unique identifiers and used for transactions with additional data, such as images. This protocol facilitates high-frequency transactions. Thus, while the sheer number of transactions is noteworthy, it doesn’t necessarily reflect widespread retail adoption or usage.

Now, why is it challenging to draw a direct comparison between Visa and cryptocurrency networks like Bitcoin when it comes to transaction metrics? Visa operates as a centralized payment system with a long history, finely tuned for consumer transactions. In contrast, Bitcoin functions as a decentralized network where transactions can represent anything from a simple coffee purchase to a multimillion-dollar asset transfer. These two entities are fundamentally different, each governed by its unique rules, constraints, and intended purposes.

While the BTC price has been showing volatile price movements recently, its on-chain activity shows strength. The Bitcoin hash rate, which determines the network’s computing prowess continues to soar to new highs.

On the other hand, the Bitcoin active addresses have also been soaring higher. On-chain data provider Santiment reported that Bitcoin’s on-chain activity remains notably elevated, surpassing levels not seen since April. Its utility is also on the rise, with the third-highest number of dormant BTC recorded in the past three months occurring recently. The $27,000 price level appears to be a point of contention in the market.

VISA Backs Solana

In the latest development, payments giant VISA has been backing the Solana blockchain network calling it their preferred choice for stablecoin settlements. Solana boasts significant transactional capabilities, with one of its standout strengths being its transaction speed.

While it hasn’t yet reached the scale of Visa, which handles a massive 65,000 transactions per second (tps), Solana impressively supports an average of 400 user-initiated tps. During peak demand periods, this figure can surge to over 2,000 tps. When compared to Ethereum, which manages just 12 tps, the difference is stark.