Crypto exchange OKX now accounts for 51.08% of Bitcoin Runes' daily trading volume through its Web3 marketplace.
According to data from Ordinals analytic platform GeniiData, Runes' trading activity on other platforms, such as UniSat and MagicEden, has steadily declined since April, holding a combined 48.83% market share. Almost all Bitcoin Runes' trading activity is conducted through the three aforementioned firms and their platforms.
Bitcoin Runes' trading activity by exchange. Source: GeniiData
Runes is a new protocol for issuing fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network that launched on April 20, the day of the Bitcoin halving. Less than one month after its inception, the protocol has generated a staggering 2,287 BTC ($143.6 million) in transaction fees and now forms the basis of the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem along with Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens, which were invented last year.
It's not just Bitcoin Runes that are gaining traction within the ecosystem.
Since its launch in April, Omnichain yield-generating protocol SolvBTC, which allows users to earn yields on their Bitcoin through minted derivatives on Arbitrum, Merlin, and BNB Smart Chain, has accumulated $920.62 million in total value locked. The protocol currently has over 12,000 BTC staked among 30,000 participants and generates annual returns of 5% to 10% on users’ BTC deposits.
On April 30, the firm announced it would introduce re-staking yields for its users’ Bitcoin through a partnership with Babylon. The Babylon protocol allows users to self-custody their idle BTC and earn rewards from using the underlying BTC to verify transactions on proof-of-stake networks. Fisher Yu, co-founder of Babylon, said that he hopes that Bitcoin can become more than a store of value but also a “source of dynamic, secure yield” for DeFi.
Babylon explaining the mechanism of its BTC staking protocol. Source: Babylon
Similarly, Bitcoin smart contract developer MicroVisionChain plans to enact a Proof of Build model to incentivize ecosystem developers to build Bitcoin interchain asset bridges, Bitcoin decentralized exchanges, wallets, and support for BRC-20 assets on the protocol. Under the proposal, 65% of its native SPACE token would be distributed to builds according to their respective contribution. The project currently has a diluted market cap of $166 million.
On May 6, the Bitcoin blockchain surpassed 1 billion in transactions. During its 5,603-day existence, Bitcoin has had an average of 178,475 daily transactions. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s biggest rival, Ethereum, has processed well over two billion transactions since it launched in July 2015.
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