Ahead of the Bitcoin halving, the two largest BRC-20 tokens, ORDI and SATS, experienced significant declines of over 40%. ORDI fell by more than 42% while SATS dropped by over 45% on the weekly chart, according to CoinMarketCap data. BRC-20 token sales also saw a decline, with PUPS BRC-20 sales falling by 30% to $1.4 million in the past 24 hours, and WZRD BRC-20 sales dropping by 63% to $1.1 million, as reported by NFT data aggregator CryptoSlam.
However, there has been a surge in interest in Bitcoin Runes, a new token standard on Bitcoin that simplifies the creation of fungible tokens. The daily sales volume of RUNE BRC-20 tokens skyrocketed by over 4,500% to $251,000, indicating a shift in focus among traders. PUPS BRC-20 and WZRD BRC-20 tokens were the second and third-largest collections by sales volume across all blockchains in the past week, accumulating $41 billion and $16.3 million in sales respectively.
The increased interest in Bitcoin Runes can be attributed to its upcoming launch, which coincides with the Bitcoin halving. However, according to decentralized finance researcher Ignas, the real market opportunity for Runes may only arise months after the initial hype subsides. Ignas predicts that Rune prices could decline significantly after the halving as they do not immediately enhance the trading experience of BRC-20 tokens and smaller traders may be deterred by increasing Bitcoin transaction fees.
Ignas also anticipates a flood of Runes launching in the market, leading to diluted attention and capital inflows. However, he remains optimistic about the long-term potential of Runes, especially as the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) plans to integrate with Runes, allowing ICP smart contracts to interact directly with Runes and BRC-20 tokens on Bitcoin’s base layer. This integration is part of the Bitcoin decentralized finance (DeFi) or BTCFi paradigm, aimed at increasing utility around BTC and Bitcoin-native assets.
It is important to note that this article does not provide investment advice or recommendations, and readers should conduct their own research before making any investment decisions.