Did You Fade Bitcoin Runes? Not Yet Says This Data

Ord.io, a website tracking the on-chain performance of Bitcoin Ordinals and Runes, revealed Friday that the Runes protocol is seeing significant growth despite widespread claims that the protocol’s hype has died down. A tweet shows that Runes has “accounted for 69.1% of all Bitcoin transactions over the past 24 hours.”

BREAKING: Despite Ethereum influencers declaring that Runes are dead the Runes Protocol has accounted for 69.1% of all Bitcoin transactions over the past 24 hours

— Ord.io (@ord_io) July 12, 2024

Data Shows Runes Are Not Dead

In January 2023, Bitcoin developer Casey Rodarmor introduced the concept of launching non-fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network through inscriptions. He called this the Ordinal protocol. In September 2023, he proposed the Runes protocol, enabling developers to deploy fungible tokens on the Bitcoin mainnet through unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs).

Bitcoin Runes were launched on the leading blockchain network when the last Bitcoin halving occurred on April 20, 2024. Since then, various developers have launched memecoins on the Bitcoin blockchain through this initiative.

However, a few weeks after launch, the Runes protocol market’s performance plunged significantly. CoinTab reported in late April that the market’s revenue fees dropped from $117 million to approximately $1 million. This downtrend sparked discussion about the protocol’s liveliness.

The current data shows that the market is not dead but still thriving.

How Does This Affect BTC’s Price?

An increase in on-chain activities involving a blockchain often triggers a price surge for the blockchain’s underlying native coin. Admittedly, BTC’s value touched multiple all-time highs (ATHs) around Runes’ debut.

Despite that, the asset’s price has currently tanked significantly due to several factors. One is the ongoing BTC sell-off from the German government. Another is concerns of a mass sell-off from Mt. Gox creditors receiving BTC from the fallen crypto exchange.

On the bright side, if on-chain activities like the Runes protocol can keep pace and record more cash flow, BTC’s price may likely follow suit and touch the $60k mark again.