Opinion: Runes brings back the enjoyment and accessibility of Bitcoin

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial team.

Bitcoin has long been seen as a boring and unattainable asset for retail investors, used primarily as a store of value. It was often bought and stored away, with little activity or innovation happening on its blockchain. Meanwhile, other blockchains like Ethereum and Solana flourished with activity and generated substantial fees. Retail investors found it difficult to enter the Bitcoin market due to its status as a trillion-dollar asset.

However, the tide is now turning, and Bitcoin is about to embark on an exciting new era. This shift is being brought about by Runes, a protocol that has helped Bitcoin miners earn a record $107 million in revenue in just one day. This has alleviated concerns about the impact of halving on miner revenue and the long-term security budget of Bitcoin’s network.

Even traditional financial institutions have taken notice of the increased activity on the Bitcoin blockchain. Bernstein analysts have acknowledged this surge, and Franklin Templeton has also observed a “renaissance in activity” on Bitcoin.

Runes was launched alongside the Bitcoin halving and has generated a lot of excitement. This is evident in the average transaction fee, which had been relatively low but spiked to over $128 after the launch of the Runes protocol. Total transaction fees reached a record high of $80 million.

The protocol has already facilitated 1.9 million transactions and generated 1,366 BTC in fees. It has also made Bitcoin the top chain in terms of trading revenue, according to data from NFT Pulse.

This new era for Bitcoin began with Ordinals, which allowed users to embed data into the Bitcoin blockchain. Ordinals achieved massive success, generating over 66 million inscriptions and earning over 6,777 BTC in fees. Runes, created by Ordinals developer Casey Rodarmor, leverages Bitcoin’s Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTX) to store data in the transaction’s OP_RETURN field. This makes Runes more efficient and cost-effective than previous standards, offering a secure platform for fungible token projects and transactions.

Retail investors are already having fun with Bitcoin, with hundreds of tokens launched in just a week. The Runes ecosystem has expanded to include decentralized exchanges, NFT marketplaces, launchpads, lending protocols, and more. Even centralized exchanges like OKX and Gate.io have listed these newly minted runes, indicating the growing ecosystem around Bitcoin.

While the experience of creating and speculating on NFTs and meme coins on Bitcoin is not yet seamless, as technology and user experience improve, the growth will accelerate further.

Although there may be short-term fluctuations in price, activity, and fees, the long-term outlook for Runes is promising. As the hype subsides, it will drive innovation, integrations, and utility, making Runes a billion-dollar ecosystem and bringing renewed excitement to Bitcoin.

Runes will transform the Bitcoin landscape, but it requires more legitimate GameFi, DeFi, and infrastructure to be established. The top 10 Runes by market cap are currently meme coins, but this is expected to change in the coming months.

Overall, Bitcoin’s potential has been untapped until now, but with Runes, it is ready to unlock all its possibilities. The secure and robust base layer of Bitcoin’s blockchain has been established over the past decade, and now retail investors will have access to its enormous value, propelling it to new heights.

Read more:
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z3th is the founder and CEO of Ordz Games, a blockchain-based gaming platform that develops on-chain games powered by Bitcoin, GameFi, and DePIN. Ordz Games introduced the BitBoy, the world’s first web3 gaming device, which enables users to interact with the Bitcoin blockchain and earn Bitcoin rewards. z3th has been involved in the crypto space since 2017 and brings over a decade of entrepreneurial experience.