Bitcoin adoption: what the data establishes

An announcement documents an intention or a disclosed step; by itself it does not demonstrate sustained use. Holding an asset, operating infrastructure and making payments are different forms of adoption. Counts of transactions, addresses or outputs are not counts of individual users or purchases: a transaction can return funds to its sender, and one person can use multiple addresses. getblockstats describes blocks, not the purpose of each payment. A merchant’s map listing does not report its sales volume. Compare only data with known definitions, periods, coverage and limitations.

BTC Map uses community data from OpenStreetMap. Records may be incomplete or outdated. Before travelling, confirm the address, opening hours and current bitcoin acceptance with the business; also check the verification date on the map. A bitcoin acceptance record may not specify on-chain payment, Lightning or both. The method may be unknown, and a companion app is sometimes required. Confirm the procedure with the merchant before ordering. A link to a historical law or announcement does not establish current legal status; check the current official text. Bitcoin Core 29.0 documentation is a versioned example of metrics. This review covers this topic hub; linked entries have their own editorial and temporal context.

Primary sources

• BTC Map — Tagging Merchants ↗
• BTC Map — Map Legend ↗
• Bitcoin Core 29.0 — getblockstats ↗
• Bitcoin Developer Guide — Transactions ↗