As a seasoned crypto investor with over a decade of experience navigating the digital asset landscape, I can confidently say that the recent resurgence of Bitcoin Runes has piqued my interest. After months of relative dormancy, the protocol’s activity seems to be on an upward trajectory, and it’s exciting to witness such growth in the blockchain world.


The surge in activity on the newly launched Runes Protocol led to unprecedented transaction fees for Bitcoin during its latest halving event.

After months of inactivity, Runes activity is seeing a notable resurgence.

Bitcoin Runes Stages Comeback

According to recent data from IntoTheBlock, the number of Bitcoin Runes transactions has more than tripled compared to its lowest point in August. This surge in activity has significantly increased Bitcoin’s transaction fees, causing them to jump by approximately 32% this week, reaching their highest point since August.

The rising fees suggest a higher need for block space, which is advantageous for Bitcoin miners since they collectively made approximately $5 million from transaction fees during the last week, according to cryptocurrency analytics reports.

In their analysis, decentralized finance protocol Alkimiya commented on the influence of recent Runes transactions on the Bitcoin system. They pointed out that Runes transfers have significantly increased in the last week, accounting for more than half of the blockchain’s available blocks.

This uptick in activity has driven a notable increase in fees, with the average BTC median fee jumping from 7.944 sat/vB to 13.111 sat/vB – a roughly 65% rise in just one day. Alkimiya noted four separate spikes in fee rates, with the highest median fee rate reaching 50 sat/vB, all linked to four distinct Runes mints.

Hype Fades But Usage Continues

The Runes protocol made its appearance at block 840,000, coinciding with Bitcoin’s halving in April this year, aiming to increase on-chain activity. Conceived by Casey Rodarmor, the brains behind Ordinals, Runes empowers users to create their own tokens directly on the Bitcoin network. This protocol was designed as an upgrade to the BRC-20 standard, which is notorious for its costly token creation and management procedures.

On the day Bitcoin underwent its halving event, the Runes platform yielded over $62 million and boosted the daily transaction fee total to a staggering $81 million, with each transaction averaging an unprecedented high of $128 in fees. In the initial week following its launch, transactions facilitated by Runes accounted for the majority of activity on the Bitcoin network. Nevertheless, the usage of the Runes protocol saw a significant decrease in the subsequent weeks, although it remained active to some extent.

By September, the number of Bitcoin Runes inscriptions had exceeded 50 million – an impressive milestone that was reached just under five months following its initial release.

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2024-10-16 10:44