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Consider the following graph: enter image description here

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. 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.

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    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
    Commented Jan 28, 2012 at 0:49

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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

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    This, plus the death of casual mining.
    – o0'.
    Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 22:15
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    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
    Commented Jan 28, 2012 at 7:34
  • 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
    Commented Jan 28, 2012 at 20:32
  • Then by "promise" you mean "profit"? The mining part of the system was never meant to be profitable, only to be cost-neutral.
    – Lodewijk
    Commented May 3, 2012 at 21:18
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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

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    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
    Commented Feb 11, 2012 at 0:23

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