The Runes protocol has hit a major milestone, surpassing 50 million inscriptions less than five months after its launch on the Bitcoin network.
According to a tweet by the market intelligence platform IntoTheBlock, the milestone indicates continued usage despite the initial hype fading.
Runes Exceed 50M Minted Tokens
Runes is a Bitcoin token standard enabling the creation of fungible tokens on the network. Developed by Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor, it allows users to create their own tokens on Bitcoin, a feat that was not possible years ago. The protocol was developed to enhance the already-existing BRC-20 standard, which is known for its costly 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 etching and involves setting its properties, which would become immutable once complete. After etching the rune, the user can claim it through minting.
IntoTheBlock revealed that Bitcoin users mint approximately 500,000 Runes daily. This steady activity and the hype witnessed initially have contributed to the protocol surpassing 50 million minted tokens within five months.
A Decline in Activity and Revenue
Rodarmor and his team launched Runes during the last Bitcoin halving in April on block 840,000. Following the protocol’s activation, investors engaged in a frenzy, resulting in increased transaction fees and record-high earnings for Bitcoin miners.
Runes alone accounted for $62.4 million in revenues collected on the Bitcoin halving day, while the total daily transaction fees skyrocketed to $81 million, with the average fee per transaction surging to a record high of $128.
Within the first week after the protocol’s launch, the high activity continued, with miners receiving higher earnings due to Rune-related transactions dominating the Bitcoin network. However, the following weeks saw the Runes protocol activity fall significantly, leading to a decline in revenue and transaction fees plummeting to roughly $1 million.
Activity on the Runes protocol has remained low since then. Data on Dune Analytics showed that by September 4, Runes made up 3.2% of the total Bitcoin transactions, starkly contrasting the 81.3% transaction share seen on April 23.