P2WPKH Adoption
Output share of native SegWit single-signature format (BIP141, August 2017). Standard for modern wallets thanks to the witness fee discount.
What is it?
P2WPKH (Pay-to-Witness-Public-Key-Hash) is the native SegWit single-signature format introduced by BIP141 in August 2017. It separates the witness (signature) from the transaction body, reducing effective weight and therefore fees. The Bech32 address prefix starts with 'bc1q'. This metric measures the 1-week rolling share of P2WPKH outputs among all created outputs. It has become the default format for modern wallets.
How to read
The curve starts at zero before SegWit activation (August 2017) then grows with the adoption of compatible wallets. A marked acceleration corresponds to wave migrations of exchanges and retail wallets to Bech32. The long-term trajectory reflects the maturity of the wallet ecosystem and the economic pressure of the SegWit fee discount.
Key zones
Pre-2017-08-24: zero zone (format does not exist). Phase 1 (2017-2019): slow initial adoption (pioneer wallets). Phase 2 (2019-2022): acceleration (major exchanges, retail wallets). Phase 3 (post-2022): maturity, growth slowed by P2TR competition.
What to observe
Compare the P2WPKH trajectory with that of P2TR (#369-#371) to assess Taproot substitution dynamics. If P2WPKH plateaus while P2TR accelerates, the new adoption wave favours Taproot. Also watch correlations with the spot ETF arrival (January 2024) - institutional flows may favour the most mature formats.
Historical context
BIP141 SegWit was activated on 24 August 2017 after an intense community political battle (UASF/UAHF). The first Bech32-compatible wallets took several years to deploy. Adoption was accelerated by fee pressure during the 2021 and 2024 (Ordinals) mempool congestion.
Expert notes
P2WPKH is not the only measure of SegWit adoption - it must be combined with P2WSH (#368) for total native SegWit, and note that P2SH-wrapped SegWit envelopes (included in P2SH #366) capture part of SegWit use in backwards-compatible mode. The prod metric `segwit-adoption-rate` measures the percentage of SegWit transactions (count dimension), not the share of created outputs.
Common mistakes to avoid
Confusing P2WPKH (native SegWit single-sig) with 'total SegWit' is incorrect - the latter also includes P2WSH (native SegWit multisig) and P2SH-wrapped SegWit envelopes. For total native SegWit, see SegWit-Native Adoption (#374) which sums P2WPKH + P2WSH + P2TR. For SegWit including backwards compatibility, add the P2SH-wrapped SegWit sub-category (not distinguishable in output aggregates without script inspection).
Programmatic access
REST API
curl -sS \
'https://api.trinityinsights.io/api/v1/onchain/p2wpkh-adoption/history?days=90' \
-H 'X-API-Key: $TRINITY_API_KEY'MCP server
{
"tool": "get_chart_value",
"metric_id": "p2wpkh-adoption",
"timeframe": "1y"
}Required tier: pro. See the pricing grid for the tier list and the MCP documentation for multi-client configuration.
Related metrics
Institutional disclaimer
Trinity Insights is an educational and analytical tool. The metric above does not constitute investment advice. Trinity Insights is not a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) registered under MiCA Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. See the full disclaimer.