Bitcoin transaction fees from applications like Ordinals, Runes, and BRC-20s will play a crucial role in ensuring that miners remain profitable even as more halving events occur, according to a cryptocurrency mining pool. ViaBTC stated in a recent interview with Cointelegraph that the evolution of the Bitcoin network has led to a wide range of use cases and a growing user base, significantly impacting miners’ fee income from on-chain transactions. Before the launch of the Ordinals protocol in January 2023, miners relied on peer-to-peer transaction fees along with the block subsidy, which halves every 210,000 blocks and has a long-term impact on miners’ revenue. ViaBTC explained that mining revenue can also increase with a rise in Bitcoin’s price, but further development at the application layer will drive network activity and expand its utility, thereby compensating miners generously. ViaBTC experienced this firsthand when it mined the halving block at block 840,000 on April 20, which came with a record-setting 37.6 BTC transaction fee. The reward, totaling 40.7 BTC, came from memecoin and nonfungible token enthusiasts competing to inscribe “rare satoshis” and fungible tokens via the new Runes token standard. ViaBTC stated that it had anticipated transaction fees surpassing the 30, 40, 50 BTC barrier, but did not expect to be the beneficiaries of such a massive reward, especially at the halving block. While Bitcoin miners made $78.3 million on halving day, they have also made more from fees than Ethereum stakers and Uniswap liquidity providers in nine of the last 20 days since the halving, according to Crypto Fees. ViaBTC noted that Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, predicted that transaction fees would eventually become miners’ main source of compensation as the block subsidy halves. However, the popularity of Ordinals inscriptions, Runes, and BRC-20s has experienced fluctuations since their launch, causing some instability in miner revenue. ViaBTC, which has endured three halving events since its inception in 2016, sourced its hash rate from miners in 118 countries.
ViaBTC: Bitcoin’s Ordinals and Runes Hold the Key to Resolving the Mining Subsidy Dilemma