Crates / Compare / k256 vs bitcoin
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 27, 2026
k256 vs bitcoin
Short answerBy steady daily use, k256 is bigger: 245,278 real downloads a day against 60,116 for bitcoin (4.1x). 806 crates depend on k256 and 708 on bitcoin. k256 last shipped 4 months ago, bitcoin 3 months ago.
k256
EstablishedEstablished and steady.
806 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
secp256k1 elliptic curve library written in pure Rust with support for ECDSA signing/verification/public-key recovery, Taproot Schnorr signatures (BIP340), Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH), and general-purpose secp256k1 elliptic curve group operations which can be used to implement arbitrary protocols
bitcoin
EstablishedEstablished and steady.
708 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
General purpose library for using and interoperating with Bitcoin.
k256bitcoin · 100% = that crate's normal quiet day, so a spike to 300% is triple its usual traffic
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | k256 | bitcoin |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 245,278 | 60,116 |
| Crates that depend on it | 806 | 708 |
| Last release | 0.14.0, 4 months ago | 0.32.11, 3 months ago |
| Trend vs the field | +5% | -4% |
| Release-window share | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 21,903,734 | 5,076,375 |
| All-time downloads | 90,136,414 | 18,266,658 |
| Versions published | 87 | 115 |
| License | Apache-2.0 OR MIT | CC0-1.0 |
| MSRV | 1.85 | 1.56.1 |
| First published | Dec 5, 2019 | Sep 20, 2015 |
Which to pick
- Downloads tell you what is common, not what fits. Each crate's own description above says what it is for; when the jobs differ, pick by the job.
- When both fit, prefer the one more crates depend on (k256, 806 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: k256 4 months ago, bitcoin 3 months ago.
Also in this space
Method
Real downloads = the median day with no release that day or the day before, from the crates.io API (Jul 27, 2026 to Oct 26, 2026). Raw crates.io counts include CI and bots and run high (why); the method is from our 90-day study.
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Art: Nicholas Roerich, Nag Lake (1925). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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