Bitcoin users upgrade to P2WPKH inputs, rising to 76%
The article highlights a quiet but meaningful upgrade in Bitcoin network usage: P2WPKH (native SegWit) inputs have risen from about 55% to 75.7% in a few months. This shift reduces transaction size by roughly 38%, making Bitcoin transfers cheaper and more efficient, especially during periods of congestion when block space is scarce. The move appears organic, driven by wallet, exchange, and service-provider defaults rather than a protocol change, suggesting continued maturation of Bitcoin’s infrastructure. The article also notes that SegWit adoption is now present in 85% to 90% of transactions, while Taproot remains relatively modest at 15% to 20%. Separately, the piece discusses Babylon’s Bitcoin staking protocol, which has surpassed $5 billion in TVL and partnered with Aave to let native BTC serve as collateral in lending markets, expanding BTC’s utility in DeFi. Overall, the market takeaway is that Bitcoin’s ecosystem is becoming more efficient and more financially productive without major disruption.