Bitcoin’s 11,255-Transaction Block Nears 2015 Record

By Daniel Okafor

Bitcoin block 974961 packed 11,255 transactions on Nov. 7, 2026, placing it 984 transactions behind the all-time record, according to blockchain data.

Antpool mined the block at 18:24:12 UTC and used 3,993,844 weight units, roughly 99.85% of Bitcoin’s 4-million weight-unit ceiling. The block spanned approximately 1.1 MB and included 11,794 inputs and 23,122 outputs.

Its transaction fees totaled approximately 0.002405 BTC, a negligible addition to the 3.125 BTC block subsidy. The input-output structure points to unusually compact transactions, not a surge in large-value bitcoin transfers.

Mempool.space developer Mononaut highlighted unusually dense activity in an X post on Nov. 4: “Block 974557 contained 10,573 transactions, the second highest figure of all time!”

That distinction lasted three days. On Nov. 7, Mononaut wrote: “New #2 record: 11,255. We’re rapidly closing in on the all-time high of 12,239 transactions from block 367853.”

What makes the November block so dense?

Much of the recent density comes from Runes, including minting involving UNCOMMON•GOODS, the first rune introduced around Bitcoin’s fourth halving in April 2024. These transactions can use lightweight pay-to-anchor, or P2A, outputs and optimized structures measuring about 80 to 100 virtual bytes.

Segregated Witness, or SegWit, has counted less heavily toward the block limit since its August 2017 upgrade. SegWit separated signature data from the information used to calculate traditional transaction identifiers and introduced block weight, so two blocks with similar weight can hold very different transaction counts.

That efficiency helps explain how block 974961 carried 11,255 transactions while collecting almost no fees. The count reflects transaction construction and specialized protocol activity more directly than broad demand for bitcoin payments.

Why does the 2015 record still stand?

F2pool mined block 367853 on Aug. 1, 2015, putting 12,239 transactions into approximately 999.96 kilobytes under Bitcoin’s original 1 MB ceiling. More than 11 years of upgrades, technical changes and fluctuating transaction demand have not produced a higher block count.

The 2015 activity came during reported spam attacks or deliberate network stress tests that generated large numbers of tiny, low-value outputs. Bitcoin’s unspent transaction output, or UTXO, set identifies coin outputs that remain available to spend, and every full node maintains the relevant data to validate transactions and prevent double-spending.

Dust outputs accumulated during those 2015 waves, prompting F2pool to consolidate them and reduce the number of entries nodes had to track. Some transactions in block 367853 measured roughly 62 bytes, and the pool also mined block 367851 that day with 9,647 transactions.

Those transactions used specialized engineering and network housekeeping rather than thousands of ordinary consumer payments. Some also would not ordinarily propagate through standard network relay channels, making the 2015 record an unusual product of its network conditions.

What do Bitcoin’s daily totals show?

Seven of Bitcoin’s 10 busiest transaction days occurred in 2026, according to the network’s daily tally. Its five highest readings were:

• April 23, 2024: 927,010 transactions, the all-time daily record, set shortly after the fourth halving and the introduction of Runes.
• October 23, 2026: 913,196 transactions, 13,814 below the record.
• September 8, 2024: 910,083 transactions.
• October 5, 2026: 904,518 transactions.
• July 19, 2026: 898,862 transactions.

Other top-10 entries came from July, August, September and June, extending 2026’s elevated activity across several months rather than one isolated episode.

November then diverged from that monthly pattern. During its first seven days, Bitcoin averaged approximately 534,200 transactions per day, about 25% below October’s 710,400 average, and Nov. 2 produced 381,886 transactions, the lowest daily count since March 17.

The decline coincided with cryptocurrency-market turbulence after the late-October Binance security breach and subsequent bitcoin price declines, though timing alone does not establish a causal link. On Nov. 7, daily activity recovered to 591,830 even as Antpool assembled the second-largest transaction block.

The contrast separates transaction throughput from monetary settlement. A block can process thousands of small token-related operations without moving more bitcoin value than a block containing fewer, larger transfers.

How close is a new record?

Block 974961 sits 984 transactions below the 2015 record. Because a new high must exceed 12,239, a block would need at least 985 more transactions than the November runner-up.

Whether that occurs depends mainly on continued production of compact transactions and miners’ willingness to include them. Conventional payment demand remains only one component of the total count.

The next test concerns block-space structure rather than a calendar deadline: continued Runes-style construction would need to add at least 985 more transactions to one block to reset the record, while ordinary bitcoin payments remain only one part of the equation.