The Runes protocol has reached a major milestone, surpassing 50 million signups in less than five months since its launch on the Bitcoin network.
According to a tweet from market intelligence platform IntoTheBlock, this milestone indicates continued usage despite initial enthusiasm waning.
Runes Surpass 50 Million Tokens Minted
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 tokens on Bitcoin, a feat that was not possible years ago. The protocol was developed to improve upon the existing BRC-20 standard, which is notorious 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 etching and involves setting its properties, which become immutable once completed. Once the rune is engraved, the user can claim it via minting.
IntoTheBlock revealed that Bitcoin users are minting about 500,000 Runes per day. This constant activity and initial enthusiasm has helped the protocol mint over 50 million tokens in 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. After the protocol went live, investors went wild, resulting in skyrocketing transaction fees and record profits for Bitcoin miners.
Runes alone generated $62.4 million in revenue on the day of the Bitcoin halving, while total daily transaction fees skyrocketed to $81 million, with the average transaction fee hitting an all-time high of $128.
In the first week after the protocol’s launch, high activity continued, with miners receiving increased earnings due to Rune-related transactions dominating the Bitcoin network. However, in the following weeks, Runes protocol activity dropped significantly, leading to a decline in revenue and transaction fees that plummeted to around $1 million.
Since then, Runes protocol activity has remained low. Data from Dune Analytics showed that by September 4, Runes accounted for 3.2% of all Bitcoin transactions, a stark contrast to the 81.3% transaction share recorded on April 23.
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