Bitcoin Runes Surpasses 50 Million Signups In Less Than Five Months – ITB

The Runes protocol has reached a major milestone, surpassing 50 million sign-ups less than five months after its launch on the Bitcoin network.

According to a tweet from market intelligence platform IntoTheBlock, the milestone indicates continued usage despite the initial fading of advertising.

The runes exceed 50 million minted tokens

Runes is a Bitcoin token standard that allows for the creation of fungible tokens on the network. Developed by Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor, it allows users to create their own Bitcoin tokens, a feat that was not possible years ago. The protocol was developed to improve upon the already existing BRC-20 standard, known for its expensive token creation and management.

Bitcoin users can create runes by leveraging the network’s Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model and the OP_RETURN opcode. Creating a rune is called engraving and involves setting its properties, which would become immutable once completed. After burning the rune, the user can claim it through minting.

IntoTheBlock revealed that Bitcoin users host approximately 500,000 runes daily. This constant activity and the hype witnessed initially have contributed to the protocol exceeding 50 million tokens minted in five months.

Decrease in activity and income

Rodarmor and his team launched Runes during the last Bitcoin halving in April at block 840,000. After the protocol was activated, investors went into a frenzy, leading to soaring transaction fees and record earnings for Bitcoin miners.

Runes alone accounted for $62.4 million in revenue collected on the day of the Bitcoin halving, while total daily transaction fees soared to $81 million, and the average fee per transaction rise to an all-time high of $128.

During the first week after the launch of the protocol, high activity continued, with miners receiving more earnings due to Rune-related transactions dominating the Bitcoin network. However, the following weeks saw activity in the Runes protocol drop off significantly, leading to a decrease in revenue and transaction fees plummeting to approximately $1 million.

Runes protocol activity has remained low since then. Data from Dune Analytics showed that on September 4th, Runes accounted for 3.2% of all Bitcoin transactions, in stark contrast to the 81.3% transaction share seen on April 23rd.

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