Bitcoin Runes has managed to accumulate more than 2,500 Bitcoin (BTC) in transaction fees in less than two months, indicating the rise of Bitcoin-native decentralized finance (DeFi).
Runes, a fresh protocol for creating fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network, has generated a total of 2,513 Bitcoin (BTC) in fees since its launch, amounting to over $163 million, as per data from Dune.
This achievement comes just two months after the initiation of the Runes protocol, which took place during the 2024 Bitcoin halving in April, showcasing ongoing interest in the potential of Bitcoin-native DeFi, also known as BTCFi.
The additional transaction fees from protocols like Runes could provide a significant boost for Bitcoin miners post-halving, following the reduction of Bitcoin block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
In terms of transaction distribution, Runes-related transactions made up 12.2%, while BRC-20 transactions represented 5%, and Ordinals inscriptions accounted for 0.6% of total transactions on the Bitcoin network. The majority, over 82%, of transactions were regular BTC transactions as of June 17, according to Dune data.
Looking at daily transaction counts, there were 9,567 Runes-related transactions, 3,938 BRC-20 transactions, and 474 Ordinals-related transactions, with regular Bitcoin transactions totaling 64,620.
Since their launch in April 2024, Runes have been surpassing BRC-20 tokens in terms of onchain activity.
The surge in transaction fees from Bitcoin Runes is providing a much-needed boost for Bitcoin miners, according to Nazar Khan, co-founder and chief operating officer of TeraWulf. Khan explained in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph that as the rest of the Bitcoin block reward remains fixed, transaction fees serve as the “wild card” for Bitcoin miners.