# Bitcoin Transactions per second Methodology

## 1. Overview

Bitcoin transactions per second (TPS) measures the average number of transactions processed by the Bitcoin network per second on a daily basis. This metric provides insight into Bitcoin's transaction throughput and network utilization. The calculation takes the total number of unique transactions confirmed in each day and divides by the number of seconds in a day (86,400) to produce an average transactions per second value.

## 2. Data sources

- **Bitcoin blockchain transaction records**: Raw transaction data from the Bitcoin network including transaction identifiers, block timestamps, block heights, and fee information
- **Bitcoin block timestamp data**: Timestamps indicating when each block was mined and transactions were confirmed
- **Bitcoin transaction fee data**: Fee amounts associated with each transaction

## 3. Step-by-step calculation

### Component A: Transaction data extraction
- **Purpose**: Extracts and standardizes raw Bitcoin transaction data for processing
- **Logic**: Retrieves core transaction fields from Bitcoin blockchain data, converting raw field names to standardized format. The `txid` field becomes `transaction_hash`, `block_height` is cast to integer as `block_number`, and `block_timestamp` and `fee` are preserved. This creates a clean interface layer between raw blockchain data and metric calculations.
- **Key fields**: `transaction_hash` (unique transaction identifier), `block_timestamp` (when transaction was confirmed), `block_number` (block height), `fee` (transaction fee amount)

### Component B: Daily transaction aggregation
- **Purpose**: Counts unique transactions per day to establish daily transaction volumes
- **Logic**: Groups Bitcoin transactions by day using timestamp truncation on the `block_timestamp` field to daily boundaries. Counts distinct `transaction_hash` values to ensure each transaction is counted exactly once, even if it appears multiple times in the raw data. Adds metadata classification including chain identifier as 'bitcoin', market sector as 'blockchains_l1', and business segment as 'blockchain'. Uses incremental processing with monthly partitioning for efficient data updates.
- **Key fields**: `timestamp` (daily boundary), `transaction_count` (distinct transaction count per day), `chain_id` (set to 'bitcoin'), `timestamp_grain` (set to 'day')

### Final aggregation
- **Combining components**: The daily transaction counts flow directly into the TPS calculation without additional joins or combinations
- **Currency conversion**: No currency conversion required as this is a count-based metric
- **Time aggregation**: Data is aggregated to daily boundaries using timestamp truncation, with each day representing a complete 24-hour period
- **Final calculation**: Transactions per second is calculated by dividing the daily `transaction_count` by 86,400 (the number of seconds in a day) using safe division to handle edge cases. The calculation produces an average TPS value representing the theoretical sustained rate if transactions were evenly distributed throughout the day. Schema validation and gap filling ensure data completeness, with missing days filled with zero values where no transactions occurred.

*This methodology was automatically generated by Token Terminal's methodology analyzer.*

Average confirmed user transactions added per second.

Transactions per second

Bitcoin

Miners process transactions and receive fees from users (supply-side fees).

Bitcoin is a distributed ledger for transfer and store of value (a blockchain). Bitcoin was founded by a pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and launched in 2009.

BTC holders own and govern the protocol. They currently do not take a cut of the total transaction fees paid by users (revenue).

BitcoinBTC

Transactions per second

Transactions per second

Competitive landscape