According to current data, activity on the Rune protocol for Bitcoin has significantly decreased, reaching its lowest point on May 11.
Following its April 19 launch—which coincided with Bitcoin’s most recent halving event—the Rune protocol enjoyed an initial spike in popularity. Its launch on April 19 was especially significant because it fell on the same day as the halving of Bitcoin. In just one day, it brought in an astounding $107 million in transaction fees, which added up to $135 million in the first week.
But in the weeks since its release, the excitement about Rune seems to have subsided. There has been a decline in activity since the initial euphoria, according to data collated by crypto analyst Runes Is on a Dune analytics dashboard. Key growth measures show
Out of all the Runes etched on April 30, only 5,023 have been etched after May 1. Etching activity reached a new low of 129 on May 11.
Bitcoin’s Rune Fee Impact
Rune performed quite well in terms of transaction volumes on April 20 and 23, taking up 77% and 69% of the transaction share on the Bitcoin network, respectively. The mining community, which had seen lower earnings following the halving of Bitcoin, welcomed this change.
Furthermore, the average transaction fee for Bitcoin was significantly impacted by the Rune protocol. Fees were about $5 in the beginning of April, but after Rune was launched on April 20, they shot up to nearly $128, a record high.
But in the days that followed, Rune transactions steadily decreased and made up less than thirty percent of all Bitcoin transactions until May 5, at which point there was a turnaround.
Rune activity reached a new low on May 11, with the protocol seeing its lowest levels of involvement to that date. The number of new wallets interacting with the protocol dropped, and as a result, fewer fees were earned.
The precise reason behind the drop in Rune activity is still being looked into by analysts. Nonetheless, it takes place in the context of decreased on-chain activity on the Bitcoin network, as a number of measures are getting close to their lowest points in almost ten years.
Although the specific causes of the slowdown are still unknown, it is possible that Rune protocol activity was impacted by the overall slowdown in the larger Bitcoin ecosystem.
Some Rune collections have strong market values even after the slowdown, suggesting a robust niche demand in the protocol’s ecosystem.
In addition, during a recent Ordinals event in Hong Kong, Casey Rodarmor—the brains behind the Rune protocol and Bitcoin Ordinals—teased an audio-reactive generative art project, demonstrating the inventive spirit driving the Rune ecosystem forward.
