The number of Bitcoin network nodes sets a new all-time high

The number of accessible Bitcoin network nodes exceeded the 13,000 mark for the first time. As Cointelegraph reported, January hit its all-time high of 11,613.

According to data from the Bitcoin network statistics dashboard Bitnodes.io, this milestone was already reached on July 5th when the number of accessible nodes reached 13,374. At the time of going to press, Bitnodes data put the current number of network nodes at around 12,835,

Coin.Dance, another tracking site, also has the number of Bitcoin (BTC) nodes at a new all-time high of 12,825. Nodes running the Bitcoin Core software make up the remaining 98.77% of the population, which is scattered across less popular implementations like Bitcore and Bitcoin Knots.

Bitcoin Core 0.21.1 was released back in May with the Taproot activation code and with almost 5,000 nodes (according to Coin.Dance) it is currently the most widely used software version among companies that operate blockchains. Bitnode numbers put the number at 5,125 or 40% of the total number of nodes.

Bitnodes data also shows that almost half of the network nodes are running on Tor. In January, only about a quarter of all accessible nodes were running in the hidden Tor network. Running a client like Bitcoin Core with Tor provides an extra layer of security as the IP addresses of the connecting nodes are obfuscated.

Connected: Tor-enabled Bitcoin nodes are ready for use again after a network failure

According to Bitnodes data, the number of network nodes has increased by 2,739 nodes in the past year, reinforcing the decentralized nature of Bitcoin.

The growth in the number of network nodes is similar to the ongoing expansion of the Lightning Network ecosystem, where capacity has increased by more than 70% in less than six months.

In early July, the capacity of the public Lightning Network exceeded 1,800 BTC after adding 100 BTC in less than a week. Data from the Lightning Network Bitcoin Visuals Stats Tracker put the number of LN nodes at over 12,800, which is also an all-time high.