The Cardano network has seen a sharp increase in both network activity and online discussions, even as ADA has fallen to levels not seen since December 2020.
According to the latest findings by Santiment, daily active addresses and social dominance have surged for the second time this month, making Cardano one of the most discussed assets in the crypto market.
Cardano Network Activity
Data revealed that the number of active addresses on the network climbed to 29,025, as Cardano accounted for 0.33% of all cryptocurrency-related discussions. Santiment found that the rise in activity comes as ADA faces heavy price pressure and increased volatility. The increase in bearish sentiment has been linked to recent comments from Charles Hoskinson, who warned that more Cardano projects could fail.
His decision to reduce his public involvement and ongoing disagreements within the community over treasury funding have also added to concerns. Although sentiment remains weak, Santiment said that spikes in network activity combined with growing market concerns have historically preceded mild ADA rebounds.
The first occurred in late March to early April, when active addresses climbed to around 22,000, and social dominance rose above 0.40%. Another instance appeared in early June, with active addresses reaching roughly 32,500 and social dominance peaking near 0.38%. In both cases, the spikes in network activity and discussion levels were followed by a modest recovery in ADA’s price, according to the analysis.
Bull Trap For ADA?
At the time of writing, ADA is trading at $0.14 after suffering a decline of more than 3% over the past 24 hours. The crypto asset’s daily chart recently generated a TD Sequential buy signal, which may indicate a short-term price rebound. However, crypto analyst Ali Martinez warned that traders should remain cautious despite the bullish signal.
The warning comes after a security breach involving a Cardano-based wallet protocol that led to the theft of nearly 129 million ADA, worth around $20 million.
Martinez said any near-term recovery could turn into a bull trap, attracting buyers before the price resumes its decline. As such, any relief rally is likely to face resistance between $0.160 and $0.176. If ADA fails to break above this range, the price could move lower and establish new lows.
Despite the bears still being in control, the Bitcoin network is seeing a surge in transaction activity. Given the nature of this network activity, market participants may wonder whether the development is a bullish signal or a cause for concern.
According to this week’s CryptoQuant report, record-high transaction counts are driving the surge in Bitcoin network activity. The only issue is that these transactions have little, non-significant economic value.
Bitcoin Network Activity is Surging
CryptoQuant analysts explained that Bitcoin’s network activity turned sharply positive and broke above trend for the first time since late 2024. This is evident in the CryptoQuant Network Activity Index, which has been rising steadily since the beginning of this year. However, the index noted a major regime shift from March 2026, drawing a sharp contrast with bitcoin’s ongoing price decline.
Currently, the Bitcoin network activity is roughly 7% below its all-time high reached in September 2024. Both total daily transactions and average transactions per block are near their all-time high. Daily transactions have surged to levels above 800,000, hovering near readings of the 2023-2025 bull cycle.
“Mean transactions per block (right chart) have also risen sharply, reflecting high and sustained block utilization from the transaction count perspective. Both metrics have maintained elevated readings for several weeks, confirming the surge is structural,” analysts explained.
No Significant Economic Activity
Although these transactions are reaching yearly peaks, their economic content is significantly lower than surges from previous high-activity periods. About 80% of these micro-transactions are below 0.01 BTC, up from 50% in 2023. The sub-0.001 BTC cohorts have also skyrocketed in 2026, approaching prior peaks of 2024. The current dynamic reflects protocol-driven activity where volume is high but transferred value per transaction remains low.
Notably, the micro-transaction surge correlates with a rise in OP_RETURN opcode usage, which is used by data-inscription protocols like Runes and Ordinals. The opcode, which embeds up to 100,000 bytes of data without creating spendable outputs, has spiked to near-record levels this year. The protocols associated with the opcode generate high volumes of dust-value transactions, so this explains the low-value cohort surge.
Meanwhile, the surge in both micro-transactions and OP-RETURN has pushed the Bitcoin mempool to its highest transaction count since late February 2025. Analysts worry that this sustained expansion in non-financial on-chain activity could increase block space competition and raise fees for economic transactions.
Bitcoin’s blockchain is showing its strongest activity since late 2024, creating a rare split between rising network use and a weakening market price.
CryptoQuant said in a note shared with CryptoSlate that its Bitcoin Network Activity Index has moved above its long-term trend for the first time since mid-2024.
The index has climbed steadily since January and recently reached its highest level since late 2024, leaving it only about 7% below the record reached in September 2024.
Bitcoin Network Activity (Source: CryptoQuant)
The shift began in late March and has held for several weeks, suggesting that the rebound in activity is more than a one-day spike.
Meanwhile, the rise in network activity comes as the Bitcoin price remains under significant selling pressure.
The largest cryptocurrency has fallen about 30% this year to below $65,000, according to CryptoSlate data, extending a slide of more than 50% from its late-2025 record near $126,000 as months of selling pressure and weaker risk appetite weigh on the market.
Small transfers drive the rebound
The network rebound is being driven mainly by transaction counts rather than large-value settlement.
CryptoQuant data shows total daily Bitcoin transactions rising above 800,000 at points in 2026, near the strongest readings of the 2023-2025 cycle and more than double the lows seen in 2025. Average transactions per block have also climbed, showing sustained block use from a transaction-count perspective.
The composition of that activity is the more important part of the story.
Transactions worth less than 0.01 BTC now account for about 80% of daily Bitcoin transaction counts, CryptoQuant said. That is up from roughly 44% in 2023.
Bitcoin Total Transactions (Source: CryptoQuant)
The smallest cohorts, including transactions below 0.001 BTC and below 0.01 BTC, have surged this year and are approaching the previous peak reached in 2024.
That means Bitcoin’s network is busier, but much of the growth is coming from very small transfers. In market terms, the blockchain is processing more messages, but not necessarily moving proportionally more economic value.
The pattern resembles prior bursts of protocol-driven activity on Bitcoin, when token experiments, inscriptions, and data services increased transaction counts without matching the value profile of traditional BTC transfers.
OP_RETURN use points to data-heavy demand
The rise in small transfers has coincided with a sharp increase in OP_RETURN usage.
OP_RETURN is used to attach data to Bitcoin transactions without creating spendable outputs. That has made it a common tool for data-layer activity on Bitcoin, including token-related transfers, timestamping, and inscription-adjacent use cases.
CryptoQuant said OP_RETURN outputs have climbed to near-record levels this year, with the increase linked to activity from Runes, Ordinals, BRC-20-style markets, and other data-writing services.
Bitcoin OP_RETURN Code Use (Source: CryptoQuant)
These systems can generate large numbers of low-value transactions because the economic payload is often the data attached to the transaction rather than the amount of BTC being transferred.
That helps explain why the network activity index is rising while the price remains weak. The new activity reflects demand for Bitcoin block space, but it is not the same thing as a broad recovery in investor appetite for BTC.
It also complicates the long-running debate over Bitcoin’s use case. Supporters may view the surge as evidence that Bitcoin is becoming a more active settlement layer for new types of on-chain activity.
However, critics may see it as congestion from transactions that do little to support Bitcoin’s monetary role.
For now, the data supports both readings to some degree. Bitcoin is being used more. But the use is concentrated in small transactions that differ from the financial transfers many investors associate with durable network demand.
Mempool congestion returns, but fees stay low
The jump in micro-transactions has started to affect the mempool, where unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions wait before being added to blocks.
CryptoQuant said the Bitcoin mempool transaction count has risen to about 128,000, the highest since late February 2025. The congestion is concentrated in low-fee transactions, consistent with the increase in OP_RETURN and micro-transaction activity.
The current backlog remains well below the extreme peaks seen in September 2023 and November 2024. Still, the increase shows that non-financial or low-value activity is taking up a larger share of Bitcoin transaction flow.
That could become more important if the trend continues. Higher competition for block space can push up fees, especially for users who need time-sensitive settlement.
In past cycles, congestion from inscriptions and token-related activity created brief periods of elevated fees and renewed debate over whether Bitcoin’s block space should be used primarily for monetary transfers or broader data applications.
So far, the latest activity burst has not produced a comparable fee boom.
YCharts data, based on Blockchain.com figures, showed daily Bitcoin transaction fees at 3.458 BTC on June 18, down 50.25% from a year earlier.
Bitcoin Average Network Fees (Source: BitInfoCharts)
That gap is central to the current story. Transaction counts are rising, but the fee market has not followed with the same force.
Miner revenue remains the weak link
The muted fee response matters because Bitcoin miners have relied more heavily on transaction fees since the April 2024 halving cut the block subsidy to 3.125 BTC.
At roughly 144 blocks a day, the subsidy remains the main source of miner revenue. Fees contribute only a small share in BTC terms when network costs are low, limiting the direct financial benefit miners receive from higher transaction counts.
That makes the current activity surge less straightforward than prior periods when congestion produced large fee spikes. More transactions can signal stronger demand for block space, but if those transactions are low-value and low-fee, the impact on miner economics remains limited.
The result is a mixed signal for the Bitcoin market.
On one hand, the blockchain is seeing its strongest activity in nearly two years, driven by real demand for small transactions and data-linked use cases.
On the other hand, Bitcoin’s price remains under pressure, sellers still dominate the short-term market structure, and the fee market has not shown that users are willing to pay significantly more for settlement.
That leaves Bitcoin with a busy network but an unresolved market question: whether this new wave of activity can become durable economic demand, or whether it remains another burst of low-value traffic that fills blocks without changing the broader investment picture.
