Runes Activity and Fee Volume Hit an All-Time Low
The Runes protocol, known for introducing the ability to create fungible tokens based on the Bitcoin network, has undergone a significant decrease in activity and fees.
While the Runes protocol continues to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees every day, Dune's data showed a continued downward trend. On April 23, Runes' transaction share reached 81.3%, bringing Bitcoin's transaction share down to 18.15% and Ordinals and BRC-20 transactions to 0.1% each.
The Runes protocol generated $135 million in fees in its first week after the bitcoin halving, but activity has dropped dramatically since then, with May 10 being the lowest day for activity and only two times in the last twelve days generating over $1 million in fees.…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 12, 2024
The protocol was launched three weeks ago on Bitcoin's halving day and caused a stir in the market, resulting in a surge in transaction fees and record revenues for Bitcoin miners. Runes dominated the Bitcoin network, but from April 24, activity on the network began to decline noticeably. On May 5 and 6, the protocol once again dominated the network, but this situation did not last long.
Over the past 12 days, the volume of commissions in Runes has only twice exceeded the $1 million mark. A noticeable drop in activity occurred on May 10, when very few new miners and new wallets interacted with the protocol. Analysts attribute the decline in Runes activity to the general decline in activity in the Bitcoin network.
