Bitcoin Association, the Switzerland-based global industry organisation that works to advance business with the BSV blockchain and digital currency, has confirmed that the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain surpassed BTC in accumulated data size, demonstrating the ability of the Bitcoin network to scale without limits.
On May 16, 2021, the accumulated growth (in data size) of the BSV blockchain surpassed the BTC blockchain for the first time, with the total data stored on-chain reaching 352.9 GB on the BSV network compared to 352.4 GB on the BTC network on that date. Since then, BSV continues to extend its lead as the largest and most data-rich blockchain, increasing the amount of data stored on-chain to 367.43 GB compared to 355.23 GB on BTC as of June 4, 2021.
The continued data growth of the BSV blockchain can be attributed to its decision to follow Bitcoin creator’s Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision to scale unbounded; with no limit on the default block cap size (and thus the transaction volume and data capacity) on the BSV blockchain. As a result, the BSV network offers high transaction throughput (having already sustained over 5,100 transactions per second on its mainnet and expected to demonstrate 50,000 transaction per second throughput later this year) at extremely low cost (the median transaction fee on the BSV network in 2020 was less than 1/50th of a U.S. cent).
In contrast, the BTC network imposes a default block cap size of only 1 MB (with block weight up to 4 MB), limiting its network to 7 transactions per second on-chain – requiring higher transaction fees and restricting the utility of its network to high-value and ‘store of value’ transactions. For many years, BTC supporters have argued that the Bitcoin network cannot or should not scale, but their position has been proven wrong by the BSV network’s greater data capacity.
On March 14, 2021, the BSV network processed a world record 638 MB block (#678301 mined by TAAL Distributed Information Technologies) comprised of 2,674 transactions, including several large mixed media files. That block broke the previous world record for biggest block size – which also occurred on the BSV network – from May 16, 2020, when a 369 MB block (#635141, also mined by TAAL) containing 1.3 million individual transactions, demonstrating the diverse data capabilities and use cases the BSV blockchain can support.
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Transactions on the BSV blockchain originate from the array of businesses leveraging the diverse functionalities offered by the BSV network – including simple payments, tokens, social and digital media content, online game activity and timestamping records – in addition to the business, consumer and public sector data managed through the chain.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Bitcoin Association Founding President Jimmy Nguyen, said:
‘We recognise that BSV overtaking BTC in accumulated blockchain growth is an interesting milestone, but it’s really just one step in the journey to something bigger. BTC proponents have long argued that Bitcoin cannot scale and that its network must be restricted to a tiny 1 MB block cap, but with 600 MB block ranges already demonstrated, superior data functionalities shown and now a larger total blockchain data size too, BSV continues to prove that Bitcoin does scale. Every day, BSV businesses and developers are showing just what the Bitcoin network is capable of when it’s allowed to scale, with its blockchain being used to power use cases as diverse as on-chain social media, eSports and game activity, supply chain management, AR and VR virtual items, COVID-19 vaccine tracing for the African country of Lesotho, and, in the not-too-distant future, the e-government services for an entire nation of Tuvalu. It’s all part of a new data-driven digital economy made possible by the BSV blockchain handling greater data capacity as Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned, and we’re just getting started.’
