Is the Bitcoin Runes Hype Over? Revenue Crashes From $117M to $1.03M

Runes-related transactions have seen a dramatic decline in revenue fees after the halving event completed on April 20, 2024.

Runes Revenue Slowsdown

According to data from Glassnode, Runes revenue fees had reached a high of $117 million amid halving. Particularly on the halving day, a staggering $62.4 million in revenue was collected.

Following the #Bitcoin Halving, Rune Transactions have accrued a total of $117M in revenue fees, with a staggering $62.4M collected on the day of the halving.

However, a stark decline in revenue can be noted with the current Fees from Rune TXs residing at a value of $1.03M. pic.twitter.com/RpDnn4r88n

— glassnode (@glassnode) April 29, 2024

However, the story is beginning to change. The Glassnode chart shows that Runes-related transactions’ current fees are around $1.03 million. This begs the question of whether the Runes frenzy is over.

Runes, a protocol that allows the creation of fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network, was launched on the same day the halving was initiated. While the halving had cut miners’ revenue in half, Runes paved a new way for them to earn extra money.

This innovation created traffic on the Bitcoin network, bringing in more revenue through transaction fees to miners. Since its launch, Runes-related transactions have made up most of the Bitcoin network’s transactions. Last week, Runes helped take Bitcoin transactions to a new all-time high (ATH) of 927,000, breaking the previous peak of 724,000 achieved in December 2023. 

At the time, Dunes Analytics dashboards showed that Runes-related transactions make up 81% of the total transactions on the Bitcoin network. The dashboard also revealed that investors have carried out around 3.6 million Runes transactions on the network since its launch.

Several analysts had predicted that Runes could even have a more significant impact on Bitcoin than the halving. But is the hype around Runes over?

Impact on Miners 

Meanwhile, the slowdown in Runes revenue fees has impacted miners. A new report revealed that while Runes had initially helped miners cope with the halving by increasing their income through fees, the decrease in Rune’s popularity is making miners lose that extra income, thus making it challenging to run less efficient machines and pushing them towards shutting down.

According to f2pool, based on the price of 0.06 USD/kWh, after the halving, Antminer S19, T19, Whatsminer M33S+, M30S+ and mining machines with lower energy efficiency ratios are close to the shutdown price. As the popularity of Runes decreases, miners' income decreases, and the…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 29, 2024