Bitcoin Runes, a protocol for non-fungible tokens launched in August, generated $162.4 million in fees over 15.6 million transactions in four months.
According to Dune Analytics, Runes recorded the majority of transactions in the first two months, often exceeding 300,000 transactions per day. On April 23 alone, NFT investors racked up more than one million transactions in minting, etching, transfers and edicts combined, representing 81.3% of the total Bitcoin network bandwidth.
Bitcoin Runes daily transactions. Source: Dune Analytics
In contrast, daily Runes transactions declined in the last two months, logging roughly 50,000 daily transactions on average.
The Bitcoin Runes protocol initially dominated daily transactions post-launch but is now seeing a decline, with BTC reclaiming its network dominance.
In the last two months since July 16, the original Bitcoin (BTC) has consistently taken up roughly 90% of the network, while the remaining 10% is shared among Ordinal BRC-20 and Runes.
The rise of Bitcoin inscriptions
The Runes protocol was introduced as an efficient successor to Bitcoin Ordinals and a competitor to BRC-20 and has gained preference against both from many investors.
In the last four months, Runes exceeded BRC-20 in terms of daily transaction share on most days. BRC-20 outperformed Runes only on 13 days, as shown in the chart below.
Runes vs. BRC-20. Source: Dune Analytics
Out of the 15.6 million Runes transactions, mints represent more than 9 million transactions, while edicts and etching account for 6.5 million and 91,500 transactions, respectively.
Runes daily transactions. Source: Dune Analytics
Check out Cointelegraph’s guide to learn more about getting involved with Bitcoin Runes.
The market opportunity for Bitcoin Runes
Pseudonymous decentralized finance researcher Ignas recently stated that the real market opportunity for Runes might come after a few months of its launch. He said:
“Runestone, RSIC, and PUPS are already pumping, promising holders shiny new Rune token airdrops. And FOMO threads keep coming. But, like the NFT frenzy post-JPEG reveal, the market could soon cool off.”
Bitcoin L2 network Stacks is also preparing to launch a trading solution for Runes, BRC-20s and Ordinals inscriptions.
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