Alkanes Drove 61% of Bitcoin Transactions With 13.4% of Fee Revenue

Alkanes transactions made up 61.1% of all Bitcoin transactions between June 23 and September 20, 2026, according to SUBFROST data that Bitcoin Magazine reported on September 29. Over the same window, Alkanes used 40.3% of block space by weight and 94.2% of OP_RETURN bytes, but contributed only 13.4% of transaction-fee revenue.

A 90-day window of 59.9M transactions

SUBFROST's published data covers blocks 954,917 to 967,918, between June 23 and September 20, 2026, and about 59.9M transactions. Across that window, Alkanes transactions made up 61.1% of all Bitcoin transactions.

Bitcoin Magazine published its report on September 29, describing Alkanes as driving 61% of Bitcoin transactions for 90 days.

SUBFROST also published an X post that is a technical explainer of the SUBFROST and Alkanes architecture.

Most OP_RETURN bytes, 13.4% of the fees

Over the same window, Alkanes used 40.3% of block space by weight and 94.2% of OP_RETURN bytes. Alkanes contributed only 13.4% of transaction-fee revenue.

Alkanes transactions made up 61.1% of all Bitcoin transactions and used 40.3% of block space by weight, while the 13.4% of transaction-fee revenue Alkanes contributed was smaller than either share.

SUBFROST runs a live metrics dashboard that reports different rolling windows than the June 23 to September 20 window. Its "This year" aggregates do not restate the 90-day figures and are not interchangeable with them.

An APAC community writing in Chinese

Bitcoin Magazine reported that the Alkanes community is almost entirely from the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. It cited Chinese-language documentation, a Chinese metrics page, and an official Chinese-language Telegram.

Bitcoin Magazine also cited Chinese-outlet coverage noting that most Alkanes discussion on X comes from Chinese-speaking users.

The Alkanes community that Bitcoin Magazine described is almost entirely from the APAC region, and its documentation, metrics page, and official Telegram are in Chinese. Alkanes transactions from that community made up 61.1% of all Bitcoin transactions between June 23 and September 20.

Why It Matters

Bitcoin Breakdown's view is that SUBFROST's data feeds the ongoing debate over whether non-financial and token data belongs on the Bitcoin blockchain, since Alkanes used 94.2% of OP_RETURN bytes and 40.3% of block space by weight while contributing only 13.4% of transaction-fee revenue. Bitcoin's block space has enforced scarcity, so a protocol that made up 61.1% of all Bitcoin transactions while contributing relatively little fee revenue weakens the incentives that pay for mining, verification, and final settlement of Bitcoin as money. The data also points to a geographic shift in Bitcoin's user base, because this scale of activity is nearly invisible in Western discourse while happening almost entirely in Chinese-speaking APAC communities.