The verified merchant count is a little lower but still pretty bullish:
We care deeply about data quality and so every merchant is supposed to be re-verified at least once a year. The number of freshly verified merchants has increased from 6,250 to 7,807, which is 25% higher than it was in the beginning of 2024. We’re aiming to re-verify the other 5,866 merchants, but we can only do that if we get some help from the local communities.
This is key. I've had only bad experiences trying to go to businesses highlighted on btc.map. This was in S Korea and Singapore, where they hadn't been verified in over a year.