The “Silent” Blockchain: A Deep Dive Into Bitcoin Mempool Clearing and Market Signals

Mempool: The core function of the transaction waiting room

In a Blockchain system, the mempool acts like a waiting hall for transactions. When a user initiates a Bitcoin transaction, it first enters the mempool of each node, waiting for miners to package it into the next Block. The state of the mempool directly reflects the network’s transaction demand, miners’ prioritization strategies, and the fee market.

Market Signal: The Silence of Investors Behind the Mempool Clearance

Recently, the Bitcoin mempool has been almost empty. Behind this phenomenon may be market signals indicating that retail investors have temporarily exited and on-chain activity has decreased. With fewer participants in on-chain transactions, the number of new transactions submitted to the mempool has naturally declined. This silence may represent a market bottoming period: prices are oscillating at a high level, causing many to remain inactive.

Block Interval Volatility: 77 Minutes of Extended Block Interval Raises Concerns

It is worth noting that the Bitcoin network experienced an exceptionally long block interval of over 77 minutes in a certain statistic. This is a significant deviation from the typical ~10 minute block rhythm. Block delays may indicate a decrease in miner activity, fluctuations in hash rate, or even that some mining pools or nodes are being more cautious in their participation due to cost considerations.

Node Governance: Proposal and Consequences of Closing the Mempool

More controversially, some node operators have proposed shutting down the mempool. Relevant research reports indicate that while this approach can save memory and resources, it may disrupt the transaction relay mechanism and network propagation. Nodes that shut down the mempool may not receive or store all unconfirmed transactions, which poses a potential weakening of decentralization.

Ecological impact: effects on miners, on-chain tools, and the Lightning Network

• Miner income: If on-chain transactions decrease, fee income will shrink significantly.
• On-chain tools: Block explorers and wallet services are sensitive to the mempool status. If many nodes close the mempool, the data from these services may be incomplete.
• Lightning Network: The capacity and connectivity of the Lightning Network is also related to on-chain activity. Reports indicate that the capacity of the Lightning Network may decline in 2025.

As on-chain transactions decrease, support for the Lightning Network, channels, and payment paths may weaken.

Innovation and Improvement: New Mempool Solutions and Research

The technical community is also actively exploring ways to improve the mempool. For example, recent research has proposed a lightweight, DoS attack-resistant mempool design that significantly reduces memory usage. In addition, research at the Ethereum level focuses on issues such as transaction fee fairness and prioritization mechanisms, attempting to optimize the gas fee market and transaction confirmation efficiency.

Future Outlook: Will the Mempool rebound?

• If market activity recovers: As institutions or retail investors re-enter, Bitcoin trading may rebound, and the mempool will also start to accumulate again.
• Node Consensus: Whether to close the mempool will become an important topic in node governance, and new standards or best practices may emerge in the future.
• Technical iteration: Lightweight, layered mempool solutions may be adopted to lower the node threshold and enhance network stability.
• Monitor key indicators: block interval, transaction fee fluctuations, Lightning Network capacity, etc. are still signals that everyone needs to keep an eye on.