Runes TXs on Bitcoin have paid over 88% this month.
Runes, a new token standard on the Bitcoin blockchain, has seen its daily average transaction count drop by more than 88% from its peak this month.
Daily runes transactions averaged 37,820 between June 22-28, down nearly 90% from the 331,040 daily average from June 9-15, according to Dune Analytics data from Crypto Koryo.
That includes 23,238 transactions on June 24 — the lowest since the protocol's fourth April 20 launch.
Runes transactions accounted for only 4.9-11.1% of all Bitcoin transactions last week.
The sharp drop in Runes transactions has had a significant impact on Bitcoin (BTC) mining fees, which are still feeling the effects of the last half event.
Runes has contributed less than 2 bitcoins in mining fees over the past six consecutive days – a significant drop from the 884 bitcoins recorded on April 24th.
Fees from Ordinals scripts and BRC-20 tokens have been even lower over the same time frame.
These protocols were initially envisioned as a new revenue stream for Bitcoin miners that were previously supported by conventional peer-to-peer Bitcoin in-network payments to fund transfers.
Payments from these Runes and Ordinals managed to subsidize the 50% reduction in the next few days after the April 20th halving event – but since then trading volumes have been largely unpredictable.
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Launched on April 20 by Ordinals creator Casey Rodermore, Runes is marketed as a more efficient way to create new tokens on the Bitcoin network compared to the BRC-20 token standard and alternative solutions.
Network fees and the drop in Bitcoin's price have caused Bitcoin's hash value — a critical metric for measuring mining revenue — to drop to an all-time low.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin mining reserves fell to 1.90 million bitcoins on June 19, the lowest level for Bitcoin in more than 14 years.
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