Explaining why Bitcoin miners are celebrating Runes post BTC’s halving

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  • Network got congested with more than 232,000 transactions waiting for approval
  • Astronomical surge in fees was attributed to launch of Runes protocol

The Bitcoin [BTC] currency experienced its fourth reduction in reward for mining earlier today, which might surprise you, but miners have been rejoicing since then.

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Rewards down, fees up

As the compensation miners received for creating each block decreased by half, they made up for it with a significant increase in transaction fees generously paid by users.

Based on AMBCrypto’s examination of transaction data from the mempool, the historic block number 840,000, which marked the bitcoin halving event, brought in an impressive 37.62 BTCs in miner fees, equivalent to approximately $2.4 million at current market rates. In addition to this, miners received a reduced block reward of 3.12 BTCs, bringing their total earnings from the block to over $2.6 million. Subsequently, several blocks experienced significant fee collections exceeding one million dollars each.

The overall fees experienced a significant surge, surpassing the record-breaking levels seen in December and approaching the highest fees ever recorded in May 2023.

When I penned this down, the cost for each transaction ranged from $50 to $60. Notably, over 232,000 transactions were yet to be authorized, and the memory consumption surpassed 300 MB.

Say hello to Runes

Bitcoin market analyst Dylan LeClair explained that the significant increase in fees could be attributed to the recent launch of a new token protocol called Runes, which became active during the Bitcoin halving event.

Casey Rodmarmor, the creator behind Runes and Bitcoin Ordinals concept last year, enables users to generate tokens directly on the Bitcoin network through this new tool. In contrast to Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions, each Rune unit is identical, allowing for easy substitution.

At the time of reporting, based on the findings of a Rune expert, around 1171 Runes had been carved into existence on the chain. The total number of transactions was nearing 44,000, and approximately $12 million had been paid in fees.

Old fault lines resurface

Similar to how Ordinals and Runes represent different perspectives among Bitcoin supporters, Dylan LeClair described Runes as a purely speculative venture with no practical use, according to his perspective.

A crypto trader expressed frustration over the intricacies of the technology, labeling it as “total confusion.”

Instead, user uofreetepuppel, who appears to be an advocate for Ordinals and Runes, challenged those raising doubts about these concepts earlier and now.

Meanwhile, miners whose revenue streams got impacted after halving are not complaining one bit.

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2024-04-20 13:11