Runes is making Bitcoin fun and accessible again

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Bitcoin is no longer boring or out of retail reach; fun, exciting and ready to usher in a new era of innovation. For years, Bitcoin was seen as a store of value, a way to preserve capital. This meant using the Bitcoin blockchain to buy Bitcoin and then moving it into cold storage, forgetting about the world’s largest network.

As a result, while Ethereum, Solana, and other blockchains have been abuzz with activity, collecting billions of dollars in fees, the Bitcoin blockchain has remained relatively dormant, with little entertainment, activity, fees, or innovation other than its rising prices. . As a trillion-dollar asset class, most retailers can’t even consider getting into Bitcoin.

But now the situation is changing and Bitcoin is ready to experience all this and more for the first time. This will not only attract more people, encourage adoption, and encourage innovation, but will also help the Bitcoin blockchain find a solution to the network security problem.

This new era of change is ushered in by Runes, which helped Bitcoin miners generate a record $107 million in revenue in a single day. This helped alleviate concerns about the impact of the halving on miner revenue and Bitcoin’s ‘long-term security budget’.

Even legacy institutions are noticing this increase in activity in Bitcoin, and Bernstein analysts say:

“Bitcoin is experiencing a ‘Defi summer’ similar to what Ethereum experienced in 2020; wherein multiple decentralized applications and tokens have been launched on the Ethereum blockchain, leading to splurges on liquidity and transaction fees.”

Bernstein is not the only one either; Franklin Templeton also noted a “renaissance of activity” in Bitcoin.

There was great excitement in Runes, which was launched last month with the Bitcoin halving. This is quite evident in the Bitcoin average transaction fee, which remained flat but revived with the launch of the Runes protocol. At the beginning of this month, fees were around $5, but on April 20, they surpassed $128 for the first time, according to YCharts. However, total transaction fees reached a record level of $80 million.

Bitcoin average transaction fee | Source: YCharts

The protocol itself has already seen 1.9 million transactions and generated 1,366 BTC in fees, according to data provided by Dune Analytics. Meanwhile, data from NFT Pulse reveals that Bitcoin is the top chain in terms of trading revenue.

A new era for Bitcoin

It all started with Ordinals, which allowed users to place data on the Bitcoin blockchain. According to Dune Analytics, Ordinals have been a massive success, with over 66 million Ordinal inscriptions created since 2022, generating over 6,777 BTC (worth $450.8 million).

Of course, things can always get better, and Runes, also created by Ordinals developer Casey Rodarmor, have also appeared. What Runes does is use Bitcoin’s Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTX) and store the data in the OP_RETURN field of the transactions. In contrast, the current Bitcoin token standard, BRC-20s, is less efficient and can clog the network.

This means Rune keeps all data on-chain, while still being cheaper and more network efficient than previous standards. In this way, Runes can offer a safer platform to launch and trade fungible token projects such as meme coins.

The retail industry is already having fun with Bitcoin, and hundreds of tokens have been launched in less than a week. Additionally, the Runes ecosystem has grown to include DEXs, NFT marketplaces, launchpads, exchanges, lending protocols, explorers, analytics, and Rune-focused projects. Even centralized exchanges like OKX and Gate.io have jumped in, listing some of these newly minted runes. This goes to show how, over time, it will lead to a large and vibrant ecosystem surrounding Bitcoin.

This all happened at a time when the experience of creating and speculating on NFTs and meme coins in Bitcoin was not yet perfect. This growth will accelerate further as technology and user experience improve and people realize the true potential of Runes.

So this is just the beginning, which means in the short term the project may see a decrease in price, activity and wages. As we can already see, the fee is $32 again. However, in the long run, once this excitement subsides, it will lead to a veritable frenzy of creativity, integration and utility. Soon Runes will grow into a billion-dollar ecosystem, leading to new blockchain capabilities and renewed excitement.

All this enthusiasm, accessibility and technological superiority will enable Rune to change the landscape of Bitcoin. More legitimate gamefi, defi and general infrastructure needs to be in place. The top 10 Runes by Market Cap are memes and we will see this change over the next few months.

Top 10 Runes by Market Value

1. DOG GO TO THE MOON: $371.4 Million +5.3%
2. RSIC•GENESIS•RUNE: $260.6 Million +0.7%
3. DECENTRALIZED: $66.7 million -0.9%
4. SATOSHI•NAKAMOTO: $45.7 Million +9.6%
5. Z•Z•Z•Z•Z•FEHU•Z•Z•Z•Z•Z: $31.9 million +37.9%
6. LOBO•THE•WOLF•PUP: $27.6 Million +34.3%
7.…

— Ord.io (@ord_io) May 2, 2024

In general, the huge potential of Bitcoin has remained dormant until now, but with Runes, BTC is ready to realize all these possibilities. The base layer has spent the last decade establishing itself as a secure and robust blockchain. Now retail will be able to access Bitcoin again and experience its immense value, taking it to new heights.

z3rd

z3th is the founder and CEO of Ordz Games, a blockchain-based gaming platform developing on-chain games powered by Bitcoin, GameFi, and DePIN. Ordz Games has released BitBoy, the world’s first web3 gaming device that allows users to interact with the Bitcoin blockchain and earn Bitcoin rewards. z3th has been in the crypto space since 2017 and is a serial entrepreneur with over a decade of experience.