Every month or so I pop in and check on how the VeChain is doing which is VET and VTHO For those unaware. The VeChain is one crypto blockchain that has real use cases which makes these stats even more puzzling.
When you have real use cases the transaction numbers do not drop off like they have here. If we look back at the same time last year comparing May 1st 2nd and 3rd figures the numbers this year the transactions are down by 80% which is worrying. I thought the idea is you build a base and slowly increase through use cases and here for some reason the transactions are decreasing. I could not tell you why or what the reasons are as market price has nothing to do with transactions on chain being used by businesses.
In order to move from an inflationary to a deflationary crypto the chain needs to burn 36 million VTHO daily through transactions as VTHO is the gas token paying for transactions. A VTHO burn of 50K tells us the VeChain needs in the region of 70 x the transactions we are currently seeing.
I was buoyant with the fact that the VeChain is heavily involved with the EU's CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism). CBAM is live since January 1st 2026 with the first phase being implemented. The reporting however for carbon emissions is only going live in 2027 and I presume why these transactions are not being added to the VeChain yet.
Just to give you some numbers of CBAM data.
12 000 economic operators applied for CBAM authorization.4 100 of the 12 000 received economic operating status who are able to declare CBAM emissions. Within the first week 1st - 6th January 10 483 custom declarations pertaining to CBAM were validated.
The CBAM volumes broken down by category
Iron & Steel: 98%
Aluminium: 0,3%
Fertilisers: 1,2%
Cement: 0,5%
Electricity & Hydrogen: 0 % still lacking relevant data.
More categories are being added to the above list later this year and next year.
I do think this is what VeChain is waiting for and kind of where they are banking on for increased blockchain transactions. Timelines have been changing since 2025 as regard to reporting and having an extra year added to the timeline has not helped. I guess knowing that this is all heading towards VeChain in the future is where the patience comes into play and this project is not going to explode any time soon and there is plenty of time to grow ones bags.
The prices reflect the markets and there is buying pressure from companies needing VET or VTHO through use cases. If I am honest I was expecting far more and was not aware of CBAM being extended into 2027 for reporting which is when the VeChain will spring into life. The date is the 30th September 2027 which covers all embedded emissions imported and exported between 1st January 2026 and 31st December 2026 which will be many hundreds of millions in transaction numbers covering 182 000 importers.
