The daily number of new Runes engraved on Bitcoin has dropped below 250 for the past six days, with only 157 Runes engraved on Monday. This marks a significant decline of 99% from the peak in late April. The decline comes after a successful period following its launch, where an average of 14,700 new Runes were engraved daily from April 26 to 30. On April 26 alone, a record-breaking 23,061 Runes were engraved.
Runes is a new token standard that was launched during the fourth Bitcoin halving block on April 20. The protocol allows enthusiasts of memecoins and nonfungible tokens to engrave their favorite artwork, images, audio, and videos onto the Bitcoin network. Initially, it provided a much-needed boost in revenue for Bitcoin miners who were looking to offset the impact of the recent halving. However, the 157 Runes engraved on May 13 only contributed $3,835 in transaction fees to Bitcoin miners, significantly less than the hundreds of thousands of dollars they were receiving daily in late April. Since its launch, a total of $4.5 million in transaction fees have been paid to Bitcoin miners, averaging around $189,000 per day.
Despite the decrease in the number of Runes engraved, Runes transactions continue to make up the majority of transactions in May. These transactions are primarily taking place on marketplaces such as Magic Eden, OKX, Ordinals Wallet, and UniSat.
Runes was created by Casey Rodarmor, the inventor of Ordinals, and aims to utilize blockspace more efficiently than its main competitor, BRC-20s. Unlike BRC-20s, Runes are compatible with Bitcoin’s unspent transaction output model, allowing UTXOs to hold balances of various fungible tokens like Runes. However, Rodarmor emphasizes that Runes are not the “future of finance” but rather something for individuals to enjoy and have fun with on Bitcoin.
In conclusion, the daily number of new Runes engraved on Bitcoin has experienced a significant decline, but Runes transactions continue to dominate in May. Runes offers a unique way for individuals to engage with Bitcoin and express their creativity.