Coin Metrics co-founder debunks Bitcoin flipping Visa in transactions

Coin Metrics co-founder Nic Carter says Bitcoin hasn’t flipped Visa regarding annual transaction volume, referring to incorrect data aggregated by on-chain firms.

Bitcoin (BTC) is not even close to those transaction volume levels that Visa deals with. At least that’s what Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures and the co-founder of Coin Metrics, said in a recent post on X.

The Coin Metrics co-founder said that Bitcoin on-chain value declined significantly in 2023. He noted that the network’s annual volume has not grown since 2021.

As per his calculations, BTC’s 2023 adjusted volumes are “annualizing at $3.1 billion,” which is one-fourth of Visa’s annual volumes. Carter says any claims to the contrary are based on “poorly adjusted measures of BTC on-chain settlement value.”

“If you don’t strip out a lot of spurious churn & change transactions, you get a massively inflated figure. The difference is really stark.”

Nic Carter

Carter admitted that on-chain value settled is “pretty subjective and tricky to determine.” He reiterated his stance, saying there’s no question from his seat that Bitcoin’s settlement volume has not surpassed that of Visa.

Bitcoin vs. Visa discussion

Carter’s statement comes shortly after William Clemente, the co-founder of Reflexivity Research, published a post on X.

Clemente stated that Bitcoin surpassed Visa’s annual transaction volume. He also added he was using Glassnode’s change-adjusted volume, noting he was not sure what diff in methodology is.