# The byte census

Live: every block's bytes, counted by region: base, witness and envelopes.

URL: https://blockspace.wiki/research/byte-census/

**Status on [blockspacelabs.com](https://blockspacelabs.com): Live**, the fourth card in the Live group.

## What it is

The Labs site describes [the byte census](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/the-census/) in one sentence: "Every block's bytes, counted by region: base, witness and envelopes." It is T1, the first of BTI's three layers. Before any token is named, it counts where each block's bytes sit: in the base transaction data, in the [witness](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/witness/), and inside [envelopes](https://blockspace.wiki/glossary/envelope/), the structures protocols use to carry data. The [byte census](/concepts/byte-census-t1/) page explains the layer in full.

The split between base and witness bytes matters because Bitcoin weighs them differently; the [witness discount](/concepts/witness-discount/) and [weight units and vbytes](/concepts/weight-units-and-vbytes/) pages explain how.

## What the card shows

The card shows the block the census has counted to, the chain's bytes and its transactions. In the reading of 2026-10-20 09:07:11 UTC it had counted to block 972,296: 777.0 GB of chain bytes in 1,464,112,513 transactions.

The wiki's own reading, as of block 972,318, 2026-10-20 12:15:32 UTC: counted to block 972,318, 972,319 blocks, 777.07 GB of chain bytes and 1,464,231,426 transactions.

## Links

The card links to https://block.space/t1, "The census". Three Research cards draw on the census: the [policy observatory](/research/policy-observatory/), [blockspace expansion policy](/research/blockspace-expansion-policy/) and [permanent bytes](/research/permanent-bytes/).

Sources:

- The blockspacelabs.com page (index.html) · https://blockspacelabs.com
- Blockspace Labs facts (data/facts.json) · https://blockspacelabs.com
- Blockspace Holdings records
- block.space meter and summary APIs · https://block.space/api/summary

Live figures: census as of block 972,318, 2026-10-20 12:15:32 UTC

Updated: 2026-10-20