Taproot vs SegWit Adoption Race
Adoption curves of Taproot (from Nov 2021 activation) and SegWit (from Aug 2017 activation) aligned by days since activation. Directly compares adoption velocity of Bitcoin's two most significant soft forks under different market conditions.
What is it?
This metric compares adoption speed of Bitcoin's two most significant soft forks: SegWit (August 2017, block 481,824) and Taproot (November 2021, block 709,632). The x-axis is the number of days since activation, not the calendar date, enabling a direct comparison of trajectories. For each day after activation, it computes the share of outputs using the respective script, P2WPKH for SegWit and P2TR for Taproot, in total outputs.
How to read
Two curves starting at day 0, activation. The P2TR curve starts in November 2021. The P2WPKH curve starts in August 2017. If P2TR is above P2WPKH for the same number of days after activation, the P2TR share progresses faster at that age. The comparison covers output shares, not transferred value, and it does not say why a curve rises: activation conditions and the ecosystem differ.
Key zones
Day 0 to 365: integration phase, wallets and exchanges. Day 365 to 730: growth phase. Day 730 and beyond: maturation. Levels reached at the same age are read directly on the two curves. No success threshold is defined: a higher share at the same age is not enough to conclude that one upgrade worked better.
What to observe
The slope of each curve indicates how fast the share changes at each phase. The useful question is to compare levels at the same age, keeping in mind that the two protocols do not offer the same incentives. A plateau can come from demand saturation or from integration delays, and the chart does not distinguish the two.
Historical context
SegWit (BIP 141) was activated on 24 August 2017. Taproot (BIP 341) was activated on 14 November 2021. The two curves are aligned on days since respective activation, not on calendar date. The chart shows only the output share: it measures neither transferred value nor user count.
Expert notes
Activation conditions differ. SegWit offered a direct economic incentive, a reduction of about 40% in witness data cost. Taproot brings Schnorr signatures and script flexibility, without an equivalent cost reduction on key path spends. The 2017 and 2021 ecosystems also differ. The same-age comparison therefore reads as a description of trajectories, not as a ranking of the two upgrades.
Common mistakes to avoid
Comparing the curves without accounting for activation conditions is misleading. A gap at the same age does not measure an upgrade's quality. The output share does not measure transferred value, and one output can carry a very different value from another. Finally, aligning on days since activation neutralises neither market differences nor differences in available wallets.
Programmatic access
REST API
curl -sS \
'https://api.trinityinsights.io/api/v1/onchain/metrics/taproot-segwit-race/data?timeframe=90d' \
-H 'X-API-Key: $TRINITY_API_KEY'MCP server
{
"tool": "get_chart_value",
"metric_id": "taproot-segwit-race",
"timeframe": "1y"
}Required tier: pro. See the pricing grid for the tier list and the MCP documentation for multi-client configuration.
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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.