BTC Map November Recap: Steady Growth, Challenges, and Community Contributions

December 1, 2024  |  BTC Map  ·  Projects

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Dev Updates: Stability, Observability, and Performance

November was a relatively quiet month, with a focus on addressing technical debt and resolving performance bottlenecks in the BTC Map backend. No other development activities related to BTC Map were reported.

Admin Updates: Growing Areas Backlog

Rockedf continues to manage our places backlog efficiently, with no tasks left unhandled. However, the areas backlog continues to grow due to limited admin activity.

  1. South Africa - 410 changes
  2. Brazil - 220 changes
  3. Italy - 116 changes
  4. Thailand - 107 changes
  5. Switzerland - 67 changes

South Africa led the way with the most changes, primarily focused on data updates. Brazil added nearly 100 new places and re-verified many existing ones. Italy saw significant data quality improvements due to dedicated maintenance efforts. Thailand’s changes were driven by a new local community. Switzerland experienced a minor data quality improvement, mostly related to a local ATM network.

Bitcoin merchant in Thailand.

A big thanks to Rockedf for contributing to almost every region!

  1. Bitcoin Amantikir - 92 changes
  2. Bitcoin Witsand - 79 changes
  3. Bitcoin Cape Town Monthly Meetup - 50 changes
  4. Bitshack - 35 changes
  5. FREE Madeira - 33 changes

Bitcoin Amantikir achieved a flawless 100% up-to-date rating through dedicated efforts. Bitcoin Witsand maintained its high rating, solidifying its position as one of Africa’s top Bitcoin hubs.

Global Metrics

  • Verified merchants increased by 1.3% to 7,055, continuing the upward trend.
  • Total merchants grew by 3.2% to 12,689, double the long-term trend.
  • The average verification age increased by 4% to 357 days, slightly reducing data reliability.

New merchant additions are at an all-time high, but maintaining up-to-date records remains a challenge. The main bottleneck continues to be the lack of local maintainers.

Conclusion

Overall, progress is positive, but we need to address the following key issues:

  • Many locations are outdated, and we need additional maintainers to verify merchant status and Bitcoin acceptance.
  • We aim to highlight top-performing merchants to improve discoverability. Comments are currently unavailable on our iOS app and website due to a lack of active developers. We welcome contributions from anyone with relevant skills.

The best way to help is by re-verifying outdated locations in your area.