The Bitcoin network has hit a new milestone as the number of transactions processed on the blockchain exceeded one billion on Sunday.

Data from Clark Moody’s dashboard shows that total all-time transactions now stands at over 1,000,140,825, while mempool data shows that the billionth transaction was mined into block  842,241  by Foundry pool.

The milestone transaction comes 15 years, four months and four days after Satoshi Nakamoto mined the genesis block on Jan. 3, 2009. 

The network saw a considerable uptick in transaction activity in the leadup to the fourth Bitcoin halving, and over the days that followed, with much of this demand for blockspace being driven by the launch of the Runes protocol.

It is worth noting that Ethereum, the second largest blockchain by market capitalization, has processed more than two billion transactions, despite launching six years after Bitcoin. and averages at over one million transactions per day. Research from Yearn contributor “banteg” noted that as of September, nearly half of Ethereum’s 2.1 billion transactions were sent with a non zero ether value.

A higher transaction count is indicative of more network activity, but that also typically comes at the cost of higher than average transaction fees. Notably, data from DeFiLlama shows that the  Bitcoin network recorded $284 million worth of transaction fees over the last 30 days, while Ethereum recorded $173 million.