The number of new Runes etched on Bitcoin daily has dropped below 250 for the past six days, with Monday seeing just 157 Runes etched—a significant 99% decrease from its peak in late April.
This decline follows a highly successful period shortly after launch, when an average of 14,700 Runes were etched daily from April 26-30, peaking at 23,061 on April 26, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard by RUNES.IS.
Runes, a new token standard introduced at Bitcoin’s fourth halving on April 20, allows memecoin and NFT enthusiasts to inscribe various forms of media onto the Bitcoin network. Initially, this provided a significant revenue boost for Bitcoin miners affected by the halving, which reduced the block subsidy to 3.125 Bitcoin (BTC), equivalent to $196,800 at current prices.
However, the 157 Runes etched on May 13 generated only $3,835 in transaction fees, a stark contrast to the hundreds of thousands of dollars per day miners earned in late April. Since the launch of Runes on April 20, Bitcoin miners have earned a total of $4.5 million in transaction fees, averaging about $189,000 per day.
Despite the decrease in the number of Runes etched, Runes transactions still constitute the majority of Bitcoin transactions in May. These transactions are primarily conducted on marketplaces such as Magic Eden, OKX, Ordinals Wallet, and UniSat.
Runes, launched by Ordinals inventor Casey Rodarmor, aim to utilize blockspace more efficiently than their main competitor, BRC-20s, according to Binance Research. Unlike BRC-20s, Runes are compatible with Bitcoin’s unspent transaction output (UTXO) model, allowing UTXOs to hold balances of arbitrary fungible tokens like Runes.
Rodarmor emphasized in a recent interview that Runes are not meant to be the “future of finance,” but rather a tool for enthusiasts to enjoy using Bitcoin in a fun way.
May 2024, Cryptoniteuae
