Bitcoin Runes has achieved a new milestone with 1.5 million transactions occurring after the Bitcoin Halving event. This surge in transactions appears to be driven by FOMO as many investors feared they would miss out on Runes due to the “sniping” mechanism.
However, after learning that no such mechanism exists, the volume of Runes transactions has seen a significant increase, reaching its current state.
Runes Reaches 1.5 Million Transactions
Data from Dune Analytics, compiled by a user named CryptoKoryo_Research, shows that since the Bitcoin Halving, Runes transactions have dramatically increased to a total of 1.5 million.
These transactions have been steadily rising since April 20, 2024, with an average of over 10,000 Runes transactions per day, reaching over 45,000 transactions in a single day. All of these transactions occurred after the Bitcoin Halving, where it seems the majority of investors speculated that Runes would become one of the major narratives in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
The result is speculation surrounding Runes potentially providing profits, thus driving an increase in Runes transactions for holding or various other purposes. Overall, these transactions have boosted the earnings of Bitcoin miners, who are currently experiencing a decline in income. Runes has become one of the largest contributors to Bitcoin’s revenue, with transaction fees from Runes totaling 1,329 BTC so far.
At a BTC price of around $66,000, this translates to transaction fee revenue of $87.71 million from Runes alone since April 20, 2024, until April 23, 2024, when this article was written. However, with the Bitcoin Halving reducing miner rewards pre-halving, increased transaction volume does not necessarily lead to higher earnings, as the purpose of halving is to reduce miner income to lower Bitcoin’s inflation rate.
Reasons for the Transaction Surge
Runes itself has become a major narrative due to the surrounding interest predicting that Runes will be like Ordinals in its early days. Runes, like Ordinals, are created to establish standards for new tokens or assets in the Bitcoin ecosystem. However, the difference lies in Ordinals being focused on Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), while Runes will be dedicated to building Fungible Tokens or cryptocurrencies in general.
Eventually, Runes is predicted to replace the BRC20 token standard, making it the most widely used token standard by developers in the Bitcoin ecosystem. As a result, many investors buy Runes solely to hold with the hope of selling them to developers in need later or holding them in anticipation of receiving airdrop allocations for upcoming Runes-related projects.
Developers are the primary target of Runes because Runes themselves are used to build tokens on the Bitcoin Blockchain. Along with the development of second-layer blockchains in the Bitcoin ecosystem, there is a possibility that, especially towards the bull market, Runes will be increasingly used as a critical component in new projects in the coming months.
As a result, many are leveraging this prediction to buy Runes to gain potential future profits. Runes themselves can be purchased through minting, where there is no sniping mechanism, allowing everyone to execute transactions calmly. Sniping is a minting mechanism where someone “snatches” from others who are minting by paying higher transaction fees.
After hearing that this mechanism does not exist in Runes, many investors are increasingly pleased, thus driving transactions to continue rising. For now, transaction volumes are still on the rise, but overall miner revenue from Runes transaction fees is still declining.
