Bitcoin Runes transactions have begun to gain momentum after tripling since August lows

Bitcoin Runes saw the light of day in October, registering more than three times the lowest transaction count recorded towards the end of August. Runes’ transactions still account for more transactions than Bitcoin ordinals and BRC-20.

Bitcoin Runes, fungible tokens based on the Bitcoin network and the Runes protocol, have emerged in the news after recording a significant surge since August lows. Data from Dune Analytics indicates that August 7th and 31st saw the lowest count of Runes transactions in the entire month, which settled at 14,327 and 25,166, respectively. 

October sees Rune transactions triple August lows

On the other hand, October has seen Runes transactions surge more than threefold from the August lows. Data from Dune Analytics indicates that October 6th and 7th currently hold October’s record with a transaction count of 116,879 and 139,447, respectively. 

When the protocol launched in April, its transaction count outperformed other Bitcoin-based protocols such as Ordinals and BRC-20. Since then, Runes has dominated transaction count, casting a shadow on BRC-20 and Bitcoin Ordinals despite all Bitcoin protocols recording declining transaction numbers since April this year.

Miners rely on transaction fees from ordinary peer-to-peer transactions on the Bitcoin network. However, Bitcoin protocols were touted as a new source of income for these miners. On April 20th, after the Bitcoin halving event, Bitcoin transaction fees peaked at more than 1,200 BTC.

Around the same time, Runes transactions yielded a majority of miner fees, with 881 BTC from the protocol paid to miners. The fees have substantially declined since then, with some months recording zero revenue from Bitcoin-based protocols. 

Runes transactions earn miners up to 5 Bitcoins a day in October

Since the beginning of October, Runes has been the only protocol on the Bitcoin network to generate fees of more than 1 Bitcoin in a single day. The protocol’s recent transaction surge has seen Runes generate between 1 and 5 bitcoins from the 5th to the 14th of October.

According to data from CryptoQuant, Bitcoin fees have also dropped significantly since April 20th, when they peaked at 1,257.7 BTC after the halving event. As of October 14th, Bitcoin fees settled at 25.63 Bitcoin, which is a decline from 44.80 recorded on October 12th.

The decline in network fees has also caused a ripple effect on Bitcoin’s hash, which is a key metric for measuring miner revenue. Data from the HashRate Index reveals that the hashprice has dropped significantly from $156.5 PHS/day on 20th April to nearly its lowest at $47 PHS/day on 14th October. At the same time, Bitcoin miner reserves declined to 1.93 million Bitcoin as of October 1st, according to data from IntoTheBlock.

Runes was officially launched by Casey Rodarmor on April 20, who also participated in the invention of Ordinals. The protocol was marketed as a more efficient way to create new fungible tokens than the BRC-20 protocol and other solutions on the Bitcoin network.