As Bitcoin's price broke through resistance at $12,000, its on-chain transfer volume exceeded 4 million and set a 14-month record high.
Unlike exchange volume, on-chain metrics cannot be easily faked or manipulated. To put this in perspective, the total current supply of Bitcoin (BTC) is 18.5 million. This means that in 24 hours, users transacted 22% of Bitcoin's total current supply.
If we examine the 30-day average for this metric, we discover that Sept. 30 marked a three-year high, and the overall trend appears even more prominent.
At the same time, the number of addresses with non-zero balances and those holding at least 0.01 BTC has also set new highs. It appears that at least some of the extra volume was generated by Bitcoiners diffusing their wealth. It is also possible that this was driven by the influx of new investors testing the waters with small acquisitions.
Meanwhile, payments giant PayPal announced that it will soon allow users in the United States to buy, sell and hold cryptocurrency in its wallets.