OP_RETURN Stats·BitcoinStats.io

∞/21M
Overview

OP_RETURN Snapshot

OP_RETURN Outputs Created
238,519,910
at height 958,444
Payload (all)
5.03 GB
Height
958,444
Last Data Update
2026-07-17 19:12:48 UTC
First observed OP_RETURN
2013-03-29 14:18:58 UTC @ 228,596 (tx 1a2e...93fc)*  ·  Size:20bytes
Last observed OP_RETURN
2026-07-17 19:12:23 UTC @ 958,444 (tx a403...04e1)*  ·  Size:80bytes
First observed payload >= 224 B
2013-11-05 11:23:00 UTC @ 268,060 (tx d29c...bc9b)*  ·  Size:983bytes
Last observed payload >= 224 B
2026-07-17 15:43:17 UTC @ 958,432 (tx 2358...f56e)*  ·  Size:931bytes
Scanned blocks
958,445
Scanned Txs
1,398,823,304
(*) Tx = transaction in that block with the highest OP_RETURN payload. If tied, first transaction in block order is used.

Size Metrics

OP_RETURN payload (all)
5.03 GB
Payload in txs with >= 224 B
7.02 MB (7,015,588 B)
Payload share from txs with >= 224 B
0.140 %
OP_RETURN data (script)
5.71 GB
OP_RETURN output serialized
7.86 GB
Payload push overhead
684.76 MB
Definition for >=224 B metrics: a Tx qualifies if it has at least one OP_RETURN output payload >= 224 bytes.

Output Metrics

OP_RETURN outputs created
238,519,910
Outputs with payload >= 224 B
3,436
Output share >= 224 B
0.001441 %
Txs with OP_RETURN
237,887,587
Total Tx outputs
3,831,540,850
Non-OP_RETURN outputs
3,593,020,940
OP_RETURN tx share
17.006 %
Time Series

OP_RETURN Data by Year

Payload bytes Push overhead bytes
Y-axis: GB per year
0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

By Year

CSV
Year OP_RETURN Outputs TXs with OP_RETURN Payload Script Avg payload/output Share Max Payload Blocks
2026 57,079,763 56,990,819 951.53 MB 1.12 GB 16.7 B 18.926 % 184 KB 28,104
2025 44,342,296 44,190,163 751.00 MB 881.89 MB 16.9 B 14.938 % 985 KB 53,082
2024 83,164,438 83,087,898 563.37 MB 811.52 MB 6.8 B 11.206 % 80 KB 53,473
2023 1,927,691 1,879,343 69.96 MB 75.61 MB 36.3 B 1.391 % 80 B 53,999
2022 1,943,342 1,873,832 127.00 MB 132.11 MB 65.3 B 2.526 % 80 B 53,188
2021 2,949,557 2,868,415 162.08 MB 169.49 MB 54.9 B 3.224 % 80 B 52,686
2020 7,915,402 7,845,311 442.95 MB 463.42 MB 56.0 B 8.810 % 86 B 53,222
2019 28,398,777 28,360,598 1.55 GB 1.63 GB 54.7 B 30.907 % 80 B 54,232
2018 6,795,367 6,788,399 302.89 MB 319.09 MB 44.6 B 6.025 % 80 B 54,498
2017 2,254,393 2,253,947 63.03 MB 67.55 MB 28.0 B 1.254 % 80 B 55,928
2016 1,080,837 1,080,819 31.04 MB 33.21 MB 28.7 B 0.617 % 80 B 54,851
2015 654,756 654,754 8.51 MB 9.53 MB 13.0 B 0.169 % 80 B 54,321
2014 12,851 12,849 358.01 KB 383.79 KB 27.9 B 0.007 % 186 B 58,865
2013 440 440 18.48 KB 19.39 KB 42.0 B 0.000 % 983 B 63,433
2012 0 0 0.00 B 0.00 B 0.0 B 0.000 % 0 B 54,526
2011 0 0 0.00 B 0.00 B 0.0 B 0.000 % 0 B 59,627
2010 0 0 0.00 B 0.00 B 0.0 B 0.000 % 0 B 67,920
2009 0 0 0.00 B 0.00 B 0.0 B 0.000 % 0 B 32,490

By Subsidy Epoch

CSV
Epoch OP_RETURN Outputs TXs with OP_RETURN Payload Script Avg payload/output Share Max Payload Blocks
Epoch 1 0 0 0.00 B 0.00 B 0.0 B 0.000 % 0 B 210,000
Epoch 2 1,170,602 1,170,598 22.32 MB 24.38 MB 19.1 B 0.444 % 983 B 210,000
Epoch 3 42,726,155 42,654,440 2.22 GB 2.33 GB 51.9 B 44.117 % 80 B 210,000
Epoch 4 11,311,356 11,041,938 556.29 MB 586.09 MB 49.2 B 11.065 % 8 KB 210,000
Epoch 5 183,311,797 183,020,611 2.23 GB 2.78 GB 12.2 B 44.374 % 985 KB 118,445

OP_RETURN Outputs by Year

OP_RETURN outputs
Y-axis: count per year
0 20.8M 41.6M 62.4M 83.2M 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

Average OP_RETURN Output Size (Payload Bytes) by Year

Y-axis: bytes per output (year)
0.0 B 16.3 B 32.7 B 49.0 B 65.3 B 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Distribution

Bucket Distribution (log scale)

Bar length uses log10(count + 1) so long-tail buckets remain visible.
0 512,920 1-40 204,033,999 41-75 5,813,470 76-80 28,132,359 81-223 23,726 224-255 1,496 256-1000 1,393 1001-10000 478 10001-20000 24 20001-40000 17 40001-60000 4 60001-80000 4 80001-100000 17 100001-200000 1 200001-300000 0 300001-400000 0 400001-500000 0 500001-600000 0 600001-700000 0 700001-800000 0 800001-900000 0 900001-1000000 2 >1000000 0

Payload Buckets

CSV
Bucket Count Share First Seen (UTC) First Height
0 512,920 0.2150 % 2013-03-29 14:18:58 UTC 228,596
1-40 204,033,999 85.5417 % 2013-03-29 14:18:58 UTC 228,596
41-75 5,813,470 2.4373 % 2013-10-29 22:11:04 UTC 266,766
76-80 28,132,359 11.7946 % 2013-11-05 11:23:00 UTC 268,060
81-223 23,726 0.0099 % 2013-07-03 15:48:33 UTC 244,591
224-255 1,496 0.0006 % 2024-02-09 09:29:28 UTC 829,644
256-1000 1,393 0.0006 % 2013-11-05 11:23:00 UTC 268,060
1001-10000 478 0.0002 % 2024-01-26 21:44:26 UTC 827,529
10001-20000 24 0.0000 % 2024-10-30 16:52:39 UTC 868,113
20001-40000 17 0.0000 % 2024-11-18 03:26:28 UTC 870,805
40001-60000 4 0.0000 % 2024-11-18 00:31:51 UTC 870,787
60001-80000 4 0.0000 % 2024-11-17 06:59:15 UTC 870,683
80001-100000 17 0.0000 % 2025-05-10 09:14:50 UTC 896,088
100001-200000 1 0.0000 % 2026-05-18 18:30:04 UTC 949,973
200001-300000 0 0.0000 % – –
300001-400000 0 0.0000 % – –
400001-500000 0 0.0000 % – –
500001-600000 0 0.0000 % – –
600001-700000 0 0.0000 % – –
700001-800000 0 0.0000 % – –
800001-900000 0 0.0000 % – –
900001-1000000 2 0.0000 % 2025-05-14 16:36:24 UTC 896,696
>1000000 0 0.0000 % – –
Deep Dive

Record Milestones Timeline

Record max payload Record max OP_RETURN outputs per tx
payload outputs/tx 2013-02-26 2017-04-21 2021-06-14 2009-01-03 2025-08-07

Milestones

CSV
Height Time (UTC) Type Label Transaction Value
244,591 2013-07-03 15:48:33 UTC First in bucket 81-223 First OP_RETURN payload in bucket 81-223 e4d2...8595 –
228,596 2013-03-29 14:18:58 UTC Record max payload New record: max OP_RETURN payload bytes 1a2e...93fc 20
228,596 2013-03-29 14:18:58 UTC Record max OP_RETURN outputs per tx New record: max OP_RETURN outputs in single tx eb31...2f29 1
228,596 2013-03-29 14:18:58 UTC First in bucket 0 First OP_RETURN payload in bucket 0 eb31...2f29 –
228,596 2013-03-29 14:18:58 UTC First in bucket 1-40 First OP_RETURN payload in bucket 1-40 1a2e...93fc –
0 2009-01-03 18:15:05 UTC Record max payload New record: max OP_RETURN payload bytes – 0
0 2009-01-03 18:15:05 UTC Record max OP_RETURN outputs per tx New record: max OP_RETURN outputs in single tx – 0
Showing 31–37 of 37
Rows: 10 20 50
1 2 3 4
Large Payload

Large Payload Activity by Month

TX count (payload >= 224 bytes) Max payload in month (log scale)
Bars show monthly transaction count. Line shows monthly maximum payload size.
0 224.0 B 273 1.8 KB 546 14.9 KB 819 120.9 KB 1,092 984.6 KB 2013-11 2024-02 2024-04 2024-08 2024-11 2025-01 2025-03 2025-05 2025-07 2025-09 2025-11 2026-01 2026-03 2026-05 2026-07

Payload Size Distribution

Histogram buckets for transactions with OP_RETURN payload >= 224 bytes.
0 374 748 1,122 1,496 224-255 224-255 256-511 256-511 512-1023 512-1k 1024-2047 1k-2k 2048-4095 2k-4k 4096-8191 4k-8k 8192-16383 8k-16k 16384-32767 16k-32k 32768-65535 32k-65k 65536-131071 65k-131k 131072-262143 131k-262k 262144-524287 262k-524k >=524288 >=524k

Top 20 Largest Payload Transactions with payload >= 224 bytes

Top transactions by maximum OP_RETURN payload bytes in tx.
#1 b47e...59c7 984,587 B #2 516c...406b 979,842 B #3 0000...de07 184,303 B #4 64ab...e12a 99,000 B #5 91df...bf69 98,196 B #6 95d1...6052 97,446 B #7 156c...f077 97,347 B #8 976e...e3a3 97,338 B #9 4440...67df 94,496 B #10 eaf4...f968 86,820 B #11 8546...3c87 82,573 B #12 cf15...72c8 82,566 B #13 87ab...7dbd 82,560 B #14 ac5b...a655 82,560 B #15 e4a5...7204 82,559 B #16 baca...d5f8 82,558 B #17 ebb1...3e8e 82,558 B #18 5511...f9b9 82,549 B #19 00b8...5c04 82,547 B #20 b8b0...d571 82,546 B

Transactions with OP_RETURN payload >= 224 bytes

CSV
Height Time (UTC) Type Label Transaction Value
938,411 2026-02-26 07:26:44 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,164 bytes c2f1...a61c 1,164
938,411 2026-02-26 07:26:44 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 365 bytes dab9...77f3 365
938,411 2026-02-26 07:26:44 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 909 bytes dd69...7f81 909
938,411 2026-02-26 07:26:44 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 911 bytes ea78...c14a 911
938,410 2026-02-26 07:16:07 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 776 bytes 15c6...6110 776
938,410 2026-02-26 07:16:07 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 465 bytes 20c2...9a4f 465
938,410 2026-02-26 07:16:07 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,719 bytes 4241...209a 1,719
938,410 2026-02-26 07:16:07 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 560 bytes 50a1...ed16 560
938,397 2026-02-26 03:47:14 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 265 bytes 6cb7...c960 265
938,397 2026-02-26 03:47:14 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 252 bytes e7cd...4be3 252
938,385 2026-02-26 02:49:58 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 226 bytes 0cce...fe71 226
938,374 2026-02-26 01:24:03 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 295 bytes 3ebc...a06a 295
938,352 2026-02-25 23:11:07 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 283 bytes 72ea...534e 283
938,342 2026-02-25 21:06:21 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 229 bytes 984c...7055 229
938,323 2026-02-25 18:51:23 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 280 bytes 6497...34be 280
937,848 2026-02-22 17:39:09 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 628 bytes 4fcb...628f 628
937,707 2026-02-21 20:41:54 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,053 bytes 7269...c4af 1,053
937,669 2026-02-21 13:49:13 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,060 bytes 3e7a...dab2 1,060
937,600 2026-02-20 23:07:53 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,053 bytes 2b65...458d 1,053
937,576 2026-02-20 19:18:20 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,050 bytes cdb6...4e01 1,050
937,565 2026-02-20 18:01:33 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,060 bytes 55b2...3dcc 1,060
937,462 2026-02-19 22:57:28 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 345 bytes fd4e...dd51 345
936,404 2026-02-13 17:23:43 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,609 bytes 230a...6df5 1,609
936,131 2026-02-12 00:36:59 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 2,354 bytes d288...710e 2,354
936,123 2026-02-11 23:17:46 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 938 bytes f8d2...f39b 938
935,916 2026-02-10 14:24:12 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 29,115 bytes 1c2a...527f 29,115
935,911 2026-02-10 13:25:39 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 2,120 bytes f9dd...6067 2,120
935,415 2026-02-07 12:56:11 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 722 bytes 17e2...8f8d 722
935,386 2026-02-07 09:05:56 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 351 bytes a80e...bfd5 351
935,346 2026-02-07 03:59:52 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,012 bytes 6cd3...1be4 1,012
935,321 2026-02-06 23:18:18 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,012 bytes bf26...6b14 1,012
935,046 2026-02-04 22:17:42 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 264 bytes 0c90...ec04 264
935,046 2026-02-04 22:17:42 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 267 bytes 1a1b...a36d 267
935,046 2026-02-04 22:17:42 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 267 bytes 1e4c...afde 267
935,046 2026-02-04 22:17:42 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 260 bytes 23ed...2112 260
935,046 2026-02-04 22:17:42 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 268 bytes 407a...d085 268
935,046 2026-02-04 22:17:42 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 294 bytes 4d77...9fff 294
935,046 2026-02-04 22:17:42 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 294 bytes 7668...b3e7 294
935,046 2026-02-04 22:17:42 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 264 bytes 89b8...c69a 264
934,304 2026-01-30 05:58:53 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 764 bytes 8d70...33a3 764
934,303 2026-01-30 05:41:08 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 783 bytes e06a...c436 783
934,297 2026-01-30 03:57:18 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,012 bytes 60b4...79d6 1,012
934,297 2026-01-30 03:57:18 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 287 bytes 9492...2a31 287
934,244 2026-01-29 17:42:05 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 303 bytes 7c5e...b4b4 303
934,244 2026-01-29 17:42:05 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 355 bytes c31a...10e4 355
933,885 2026-01-26 19:21:53 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 301 bytes 4a49...b28e 301
933,779 2026-01-25 22:19:08 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 752 bytes fccc...178f 752
932,977 2026-01-19 18:58:42 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 2,335 bytes 9b61...90e7 2,335
932,874 2026-01-19 02:58:35 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,140 bytes 5b4a...d50b 1,140
932,852 2026-01-18 21:35:15 UTC Large payload transaction Seen tx with OP_RETURN payload of 1,058 bytes 7568...291c 1,058
Showing 2,651–2,700 of 3,416
Rows: 10 20 50
1 … 52 53 54 55 56 … 69