Bitcoin Runes has accumulated more than 2,500 Bitcoin (BTC) in transaction fees in under two months, indicating the rise of Bitcoin-native decentralized finance (DeFi).
Runes, a fresh protocol for creating fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network, has produced a total of 2,513 Bitcoin (BTC) in fees since its launch, amounting to over $163 million, as reported by Dune data.
The noteworthy achievement comes after the debut of the Runes protocol, coinciding with the 2024 Bitcoin halving in April, showcasing sustained interest in the potential of Bitcoin-native DeFi, also known as BTCFi.
The additional transaction fees generated by protocols like Runes could provide significant support for Bitcoin miners post-halving, following the reduction of Bitcoin block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
Bitcoin Runes are emerging as the predominant standard for issuing fungible tokens on the original blockchain network.
Analyzing the transaction distribution, Runes-related transactions made up 12.2%, while BRC-20 transactions accounted for 5%, and Ordinals inscriptions represented 0.6% of total transactions on the Bitcoin network. Regular BTC transactions made up over 82% of transactions as of June 17, according to Dune data.
In terms of daily transaction volume, there were 9,567 Runes-related transactions, compared to 3,938 BRC-20 transactions and 474 Ordinals-related transactions. Regular Bitcoin transactions totaled 64,620.
Since their launch in April 2024, Runes have been surpassing BRC-20 tokens in terms of on-chain activity.
The surge in transaction fees from Bitcoin Runes is providing crucial support for Bitcoin miners, according to Nazar Khan, the co-founder and chief operating officer of TeraWulf.
Khan mentioned in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph that as the rest of the Bitcoin block reward remains a fixed issuance, transaction fees serve as the “wild card” for Bitcoin miners.