Bitcoin's blockchain size was close to reaching 500 gigabytes in 2023, as the database saw exponential growth by nearly one gigabyte every few days. The Bitcoin blockchain contains a continuously-growing and tamper-evident list of all Bitcoin transactions and records since its initial release in January 2009. Bitcoin has a set limit of 21 million coins, the last of which will be mined around 2140, according to a forecast made in 2017.

Bitcoin mining: A somewhat uncharted world

Despite interest in the topic, there are few accurate figures on how big Bitcoin mining is on a country-by-country basis. Bitcoin's design philosophy is at the heart of this. Originally created out of protest against governments and central banks, Bitcoin's blockchain effectively hides both the country of origin and the destination country within a (mining) transaction. Research involving IP addresses placed the United States as the world's most Bitcoin mining country in 2022 - but the source admits IP addresses can easily be manipulated using VPN. Note that mining figures are different from figures on Bitcoin trading: Africa and Latin America were more interested in buying and selling BTC than some of the world's developed economies.

Bitcoin developments

Bitcoin's trade volume slowed in the second quarter of 2023, after hitting a noticeable growth at the beginning of the year. The coin outperformed most of the market. Some attribute this to the announcement in June 203 that BlackRock filed for a Bitcoin ETF. This iShares Bitcoin Trust was to use Coinbase Custody as its custodian. Regulators in the United States had not yet approved any applications for spot ETFs on Bitcoin.