Bitcoin Network Eerily Quiet Like a ‘Ghost Town’—But Whale Activity Spikes: Glassnode Data Reveals

The Bitcoin network’s heartbeat has slowed to a whisper—transaction activity languishes at near-record lows. Yet beneath the surface, crypto whales are executing moves that could shake the market.

Where did all the traders go?

Retail participation has evaporated faster than a meme coin’s liquidity. Miners and small wallets sit idle, leaving the chain unnervingly quiet.

Whales don’t nap

While Main Street sleeps, Wall Street’s crypto cousins are placing big bets. Glassnode’s chain data shows million-dollar transactions stacking up—smart money positioning before the next volatility wave.

Some things never change: when the little guys flee, the sharks start circling. Just ask your local hedge fund manager—if you can get past their third yacht.

High-Value Transfers Dominate On-Chain Volume

A majority of the transaction decline stems from a decrease in non-monetary uses such as Inscriptions and Runes. These features contributed to higher on-chain traffic during the last cycle but have since waned.

Transaction throughput peaked in 2024 at over 734,000 daily transactions but has now fallen to a range between 320,000 and 500,000 per day, Glassnode reported on June 19. Despite this decline in raw transaction volume, other metrics point to shifting dynamics beneath the surface.

According to Glassnode, the decline in transaction count is accompanied by a sharp increase in average transaction size. Large holders, including institutions and high-net-worth individuals, are increasingly utilizing the Bitcoin base layer for significant value transfers.

An average of $7.5 billion is being settled daily on the bitcoin blockchain, with a recorded peak of $16 billion during the all-time high price breakout in November 2024. Presently, the average volume per transaction sits at $36,200.

Transactions exceeding $100,000 now account for 89% of total volume, up from 66% in late 2022. Meanwhile, smaller transfers under $100,000 have shrunk to just 11% of total volume, down from 34% over the same period.

Glassnode interprets this trend as evidence of growing whale dominance on-chain, even as smaller investor activity shifts elsewhere. The firm also noted that miner revenue from transaction fees has dropped significantly, now sitting around $500,000 daily, one of the lowest levels observed in the past 18 months.

Market Activity Shifts to Off-Chain Platforms

As on-chain usage declines, trading activity has increasingly migrated to off-chain venues, particularly centralized exchanges. Glassnode notes that the futures market alone averaged $57 billion in daily volume over the past year, peaking at $122 billion.

In contrast, spot trading volumes remain considerably lower, averaging $10 billion per day with a peak at $23 billion. Collectively, off-chain activity now exceeds on-chain volume by a factor of seven to sixteen.

The introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States in early 2024 has likely contributed to this trend. Glassnode also observed that leverage across derivatives markets has expanded, with total open interest in Bitcoin futures and options reaching $96 billion, a nearly nine-fold increase from 2020 levels.

Importantly, stablecoins have increasingly replaced crypto assets as collateral, particularly following the collapse of FTX. The Glassnode analysts view this as an evolution toward a more mature risk-managed structure in crypto finance.

Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView