Bitcoin Runes has reclaimed its dominant position in the Bitcoin network by surpassing the original Bitcoin, Ordinals, and BRC-20 tokens in terms of daily transactions. The Runes protocol was launched on April 20, coinciding with the fourth Bitcoin halving, in order to enhance efficiency on BRC-20, an experimental standard for fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. According to data from Dune Analytics, Runes-related transactions constituted the majority of transactions on the Bitcoin network until April 24.
On April 23, Runes claimed the highest transaction share at 81.3%, pushing Bitcoin’s transaction share down to 18.15%, with Ordinals and BRC-20 transactions at 0.1% each. However, Runes transactions steadily declined over the next nine days until May 2.
However, from May 3 onwards, Runes began to recover. On May 4 and 5, Runes regained its transaction share, surpassing 60%.
The rapid increase in transactions inadvertently leads to higher network fees, which, in turn, benefits Bitcoin miners. In just 16 days, the Runes protocol generated 2,253 BTC in fees for the mining community.
The mining community welcomes the rise in fees as their earnings significantly dropped after the Bitcoin halving. In May, the total revenue for Bitcoin miners fell below $30 million per day.
To maintain profitability, miners have turned to upgrading their technology stack with highly efficient mining rigs to reduce operating costs and improve performance and profitability. Bitcoin mining firm Bitfarms has allocated $240 million for its upgrade, which will triple its hash rate to 21 exahashes per second. Additionally, Bitfarms has sold almost all the Bitcoin it has mined over the past two months as it continues to reinvest in expanding its mining fleet.