Homogeneous Token Protocol Runes Goes Live with Bitcoin Halving
As the Bitcoin halving officially goes live, the crypto community is rushing to mint the Runes tokens. The associated costs of minting Runes alone have reached a staggering 312 BTC, with on-chain priority transaction fees surpassing 200 USD at one point.
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Community Frenzy for Rune Tokens, Bitcoin Transaction Fees Surge Past 200 USD
Origin of the Rune Protocol
Community Frenzy for Rune Tokens, Bitcoin Transaction Fees Surge Past 200 USD
On April 20th, at Taiwan time, when the Bitcoin block height reached 840,000, triggering the fourth block reward halving, the reward was reduced from the original 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
The block explorer mempool.space data shows that 840,000, besides being the first block after the halving, generated a record-breaking 37.67 BTC in transaction fees in a single block.
The on-chain priority transaction fee also reached 2,000 satoshis per byte, surpassing 200 USD. This is a result of the Rune Protocol going live after the halving, causing a frenzy in the community to mint Rune tokens.
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Apart from inscriptions, how does the Rune Protocol (Rune) drive market speculation again?
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Developer Casey Rodarmor introduced the Ordinals protocol in 2022, starting the Bitcoin NFT narrative. However, the subsequent BRC-20 caused congestion on the Bitcoin network, to the extent that Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr threatened to ban BRC-20 and Ordinals protocols. Casey has also expressed his aversion to BRC-20 multiple times.
Therefore, in September of last year, Casey announced the redevelopment of the Rune Protocol (Runes), attempting to serve as an alternative to BRC-20, ARC-20, and Stamps.
Runes has been a subject of community attention even before the halving, and has been seen as a similar phenomenon to the NFT craze in the 2021 bull market. Recently, the Franklin Fund team also wrote a special report introducing Runes, believing that it will become the true standard for Bitcoin homogeneous tokens, with its potential being potentially huge, as evidenced by Bitcoin’s market value.
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Franklin Rune Report: Rune Issuance to Become the Standard for Bitcoin Ecosystem Homogeneous Tokens
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According to the official websites of Runebtc, Runealpha, and other projects, many Runes projects have been fully minted, with the project named after Satoshi Nakamoto having over fifteen thousand wallets holding the tokens.
Runes
Bitcoin
Further reading:
Bitcoin’s Fourth Halving Completed, Block Reward Officially Reduced to 3.125 BTC
Is the Halving Already Priced In? Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs All Bearish on Bitcoin Halving.