Since its launch during the Halving on April 20, the Runes protocol has swept across the Bitcoin blockchain, capturing more than 68% of transactions. This meteoric adoption raises as much enthusiasm as questions about the future of the network.
A dazzling adoption driven by market euphoria
The Runes rollout coincided with the highly anticipated “Halving,” cutting mining rewards in half. From then on, this new standard of tokens experienced a meteoric rise on the Bitcoin blockchain.
According to the on-chain metrics from Dune Analytics, relayed by the analysis firm Crypto Koryo, the Runes already total more than 2.38 million transactions, or 68% of the activity recorded on the network since April 20. The peak was reached on April 23, with more than 750,000 transactions in 24 hours, before consolidating around 312,000 the following day.
This craze can be explained in particular by the rush of memecoin and NFT enthusiasts, seeking to mint “rare satoshis” via the Runes protocol, thus riding the post-Halving speculative wave.
Direct consequence of this influx: Runes transactions drained nearly 70% of mining fees on the very day of the Halving. Despite a gradual decline, oscillating between 33% and 69% over the following days, the impact of Runes on the dynamics of the Bitcoin ecosystem is undeniable.
Runes, a new economic model for miners?
If the Runes have undeniably boosted activity on the Bitcoin blockchain, the question of their sustainability as a source of income for miners remains unanswered. Disparities are already emerging between the volume of Runes transactions and the mining fees generated.
Designed by Casey Rodarmor, the originator of Ordinals, Runes aim to offer a more efficient vector than BRC-20 for issuing native tokens on Bitcoin. But there is no consensus on their ability to generate sustainable income for miners.
In addition, certain actors like Nikita Zhavoronkov, lead dev of the Blockchair explorer, point out the saturation of blocks with Runes, seeing it as a deviation from Satoshi Nakamoto's original vision of a peer-to-peer payment network. .
Despite a resounding start, the future of Runes on the Bitcoin network remains to be written. If their adoption demonstrates investors' appetite for innovations linked to the original cryptocurrency, their long-term impact on the ecosystem still raises questions. Between promising potential and speculative drift, the Runes will have to find their rightful place within the rapidly changing crypto industry.
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