<p>It could be that this host specifically is getting less connections, although that might not be the case.</p>

<p>There has been a similar drop in hashing power and stock price. The most likely cause of this is the lack of press-attention and a low amount of things you can do with Bitcoins. Another possible explanation is the increased usage of online-wallets reducing the need for locally running clients and therefore the total number of hosts connected.</p>

<p>Overall, no need to worry about the Bitcoin network closing down. In fact it seems to be about to grow faster again.</p>

<p>Some backing for my claims is here:
<a href="http://bitcoin.sipa.be/" rel="nofollow">http://bitcoin.sipa.be/</a></p>

<p>Although it's hard to say anything from these charts</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-27T22:15:42.183Z
This, plus the death of casual mining.
o0'.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-28T07:34:40.030Z
With the blockchain getting large and taking up more disk space, fewer people are running the client locally.  Others are only launching the client when they plan to make or receive a transaction.
Stephen Gornick
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-28T20:32:53.057Z
I'm among those who dabbled, found the "promise" of Bitcoins to be far less than they were hyped up to be, and decided to save the wear and tear on my GPU and call it a day.
Fomite
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-03T21:18:34.613Z
Then by "promise" you mean "profit"? The mining part of the system was never meant to be profitable, only to be cost-neutral.
Lodewijk
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-27T20:35:21.120Z
2012-01-27T20:35:21.120Z
Lodewijk
<p>Actually the bitcoin network hash rate is up nearly 100% since June 2011.
That is a very misleading chart.</p>

<p>Here is a more accurate view. Notice the clear uptrend starting Dec 2011.</p>

<p>Source: <a href="https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate" rel="nofollow">https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-11T00:23:59.983Z
It's not a misleading chart, it's just a different chart.  The first chart shows that less hosts are connecting, the 2nd shows the hash rate increasing.  That just means that hashing power is becoming more concentrated, with fewer hosts doing more hashing.
Chris Moore
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-02-10T20:10:25.273Z
2012-02-10T20:10:25.273Z
waylend
<p>Consider the following graph: <img src="https://i.sstatic.net/nRdNd.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>This chart shows the total number of hosts on the network that were connected in the previous 24 hour period. We collect this by listening to Address messages that are broadcast over the network and I got it from <a href="http://bitcoinstatus.rowit.co.uk/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">bitcoinstatus.rowit.co.uk</a>. This graph and a number of other graphs on that site show significant reduction in the number of hosts on the network.</p>

<p>Does this mean that the Bitcoin network is slowly closing down? I can see that the graph seems to be quite level at the end, but the trend seems to be downwards. </p>

<p>Thank you jim618 for providing me with the link in <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/2773/6">this answer</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-28T00:49:44.150Z
the chart appears to show a gradual flattening - the opposite of closing down. That is just from the view of the curve, not from me having any knowledge of the bitcoin network.
Rory Alsop
<network><adoption>
Is the Bitcoin network slowly closing down?
David
# Is the Bitcoin network slowly closing down?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-01-27)

Consider the following graph: ![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/nRdNd.png)

This chart shows the total number of hosts on the network that were connected in the previous 24 hour period. We collect this by listening to Address messages that are broadcast over the network and I got it from [bitcoinstatus.rowit.co.uk](http://bitcoinstatus.rowit.co.uk/). This graph and a number of other graphs on that site show significant reduction in the number of hosts on the network.

Does this mean that the Bitcoin network is slowly closing down? I can see that the graph seems to be quite level at the end, but the trend seems to be downwards.

Thank you jim618 for providing me with the link in [this answer](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/2773/6).

**Tags:** network, adoption

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: the chart appears to show a gradual flattening - the opposite of closing down. That is just from the view of the curve, not from me having any knowledge of the bitcoin network.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2012-01-27. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

It could be that this host specifically is getting less connections, although that might not be the case.

There has been a similar drop in hashing power and stock price. The most likely cause of this is the lack of press-attention and a low amount of things you can do with Bitcoins. Another possible explanation is the increased usage of online-wallets reducing the need for locally running clients and therefore the total number of hosts connected.

Overall, no need to worry about the Bitcoin network closing down. In fact it seems to be about to grow faster again.

Some backing for my claims is here:
<http://bitcoin.sipa.be/>

Although it's hard to say anything from these charts

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: This, plus the death of casual mining.  
> **username_4**: With the blockchain getting large and taking up more disk space, fewer people are running the client locally.  Others are only launching the client when they plan to make or receive a transaction.  
> **username_5**: I'm among those who dabbled, found the "promise" of Bitcoins to be far less than they were hyped up to be, and decided to save the wear and tear on my GPU and call it a day.  
> **username_2**: Then by "promise" you mean "profit"? The mining part of the system was never meant to be profitable, only to be cost-neutral.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2012-02-10. Score: 1

Actually the bitcoin network hash rate is up nearly 100% since June 2011.
That is a very misleading chart.

Here is a more accurate view. Notice the clear uptrend starting Dec 2011.

Source: <https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate>

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: It's not a misleading chart, it's just a different chart.  The first chart shows that less hosts are connecting, the 2nd shows the hash rate increasing.  That just means that hashing power is becoming more concentrated, with fewer hosts doing more hashing.  

---

