TL;DR
- After an initial explosive growth, Bitcoin Runes has seen an 84% decrease in its transaction share since its peak.
- Its launch coincided with the fourth halving, boosting transactions to more than 50% of the total on the Bitcoin blockchain and driving mining revenue to record levels.
- Although its popularity has declined, it still maintains a 12.7% share of BTC transactions, surpassing other protocols like Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20.
After an initial explosive growth, Bitcoin Runes is experiencing a significant decline in its transaction share within the BTC blockchain. Since its launch on April 20, it dominated BTC blockchain traffic for several days, mainly during the weekends. However, its transaction share has dropped dramatically, decreasing by 84% from its historical peak.
Its launch coincided with the fourth halving, an event that halves the reward for block mining and typically generates increased activity and interest in the network. During this initial period, transactions related to Runes accounted for more than 50% of all transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain, reaching a peak of 81.3% on April 23. This phenomenon drove BTC mining revenue past the $100 million mark for the first time, with record daily earnings of $107.7 million.
Despite the successful start, the hype quickly began to fade. By May 2, the share of Runes transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain had fallen to 11.1%. Although there was a brief rebound on May 4, 5, and 6, the overall trend remained downward. By May 22, it represented 12.7% of BTC transactions, a still considerable figure but far below its initial peak.
Despite the Decline, Runes Remains Ahead
Compared to other protocols, it still maintains a significant share. On the same date, transactions related to Bitcoin Ordinals represented only 0.7%, and BRC-20 transactions accounted for 1.5%. Runes still has the capacity to maintain a clear presence on the network despite the overall decrease in its transaction share.
Runes is part of Bitcoin decentralized finance (DeFi) or BTCFi, which seeks to add more functionalities and uses to the Bitcoin network. With the addition of Runes, Ordinals, and BRC-20, the network reached a record of 926,000 daily transactions.
Nazar Khan, co-founder and CEO of TeraWulf, shared his opinion: “Runes and Ordinals are demonstrating the value of block space. The Bitcoin network is the most decentralized, secure, and robust network that exists, so there will be use cases and value derived from that block space.”
Although its popularity has dropped significantly, its impact on the Bitcoin network and the crypto community remains significant. The real market opportunity for the protocol may emerge months after the initial wave of interest has subsided.
