Bitcoin

Bitcoin Blockchain Size Is Approaching Half Terabyte

On January 3, 2009, the size of the Bitcoin blockchain was 0.285 kilobytes (kB), or around 285 bytes. Today, the blockchain’s ledger is already approximately half a terabyte or 432 gigabytes.

On October 16, 2022, the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain will be 500 gigabytes, or nearly half a terabyte of space, to record the history of the distributed ledger on a disc. Currently, storing the full BTC blockchain needs more than 432,000 megabytes (MB) or 432 gigabytes (GB) of space.

On January 3, 2009, the blockchain was less than a kilobyte in size, or around 285 bytes, when Satoshi Nakamoto launched the network. Bitcoin’s distributed ledger did not exceed 1 MB in size until February 16, 2009, and by February 13, 2012, the blockchain had grown to around 1,000,000 kB or 1 GB in size.

On Sunday, the BTC chain is roughly 432,176,009 kB in size, having reached 432 GB today. Miners and full nodes must store the complete blockchain network, which requires more than 432 GB of storage capacity to run the entire chain.

Source: Blockchair

According to today’s data, there are 14,299 accessible full nodes at the time of writing, implying that thousands of nodes host a complete copy of the blockchain network. Light clients are wallets that do not maintain a complete node and use a simplified payment verification (SPV) system.

SPV clients do not run a full node, instead synchronizing with nearby validating bitcoin full nodes. SPV wallets are utilized by the majority of the crypto community today, whereas full nodes are used by full-node operators, miners, and institutions like exchanges, payment providers, and custodians.

BTC is not the only distributed ledger that requires a significant amount of disk space to keep. The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) network is 186 GB, the BitcoinSV (BSV) network is about 7 TB, and the Dash (DASH) network is around 27 GB. Ethereum (ETH) is barely five gigabytes away from exceeding 0.5 TB at 495 GB.

Source: Blockchair

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Harold

CoinCu News

Harold

With a passion for untangling the complexities of the financial world, I've spent over four years in financial journalism, covering everything from traditional equities to the cutting edge of venture capital. "The financial markets are a fascinating puzzle," I often say, "and I love helping people make sense of them." That's what drives me to bring clear and insightful financial journalism to the readers of Coincu.