Bitcoin Runes have accumulated more than 2,500 Bitcoin (BTC) in transaction fees in under two months, showcasing the rise of Bitcoin-native decentralized finance (DeFi).
Runes, a fresh protocol for issuing fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network, has garnered a total of 2,513 BTC in fees since its launch, equivalent to over $163 million, as per data from Dune.
This achievement comes following the launch of the Runes protocol in April during the 2024 Bitcoin halving, indicating sustained interest in the potential of Bitcoin-native DeFi, or BTCFi.
The additional transaction fees generated by protocols like Runes could provide a significant boost for Bitcoin miners post-halving, following the reduction in Bitcoin block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block.
Bitcoin Runes have emerged as the leading standard for issuing fungible tokens on the pioneer blockchain network. Analysis of transaction distribution revealed that Runes-related transactions made up 12.2%, while BRC-20 transactions accounted for 5%, and Ordinals inscriptions made up 0.6% of the total transactions on the Bitcoin network. The majority of transactions, at 82%, remained regular BTC transactions as of June 17.
In terms of daily transaction volume, there were 9,567 Runes-related transactions, compared to 3,938 BRC-20 transactions and 474 Ordinals-related transactions. Regular Bitcoin transactions numbered 64,620.
Since their launch in April 2024, Runes have been surpassing BRC-20 tokens in terms of on-chain activity.
The increase in transaction fees from Bitcoin Runes is providing crucial support for Bitcoin miners, according to TeraWulf’s co-founder and COO, Nazar Khan.
Khan explained in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph that as the fixed issuance of the rest of the Bitcoin block reward remains constant, transaction fees serve as the unpredictable factor for Bitcoin miners.