Runes, a new token standard on the Bitcoin blockchain, has seen its daily average transaction count plummet over 88% from its highest point in June.
According to Dune Analytics data from Crypto Koryo, the average daily Runes transactions from June 22–28 was 37,820, reflecting a nearly 90% drop from the 331,040 daily average recorded between June 9–15.
It includes 23,238 transactions made on June 24 — the lowest since the protocol launched at Bitcoin’s fourth halving event on April 20.
Runes transactions have only accounted for between 4.9% and 11.1% of all Bitcoin (BTC) transactions in the last week.
The sharp fall in Runes transactions has had a considerable impact on Bitcoin miner fees, who are still feeling the effects of the last halving event.
Runes have contributed less than 2 Bitcoin in miner fees over the last six days — marking an enormous drop from its record 884 Bitcoin on April 24.
Fees from Ordinals inscriptions and BRC-20 tokens have been even lower over the same time frame.
These protocols were initially touted as a new revenue stream for miners who previously relied on ordinary peer-to-peer Bitcoin transfers to cash in network fees.
Fees from these Runes and Ordinals managed to cover the 50% reduction in block subsidy for the next few days after the April 20 halving event — but since then, trading volumes have largely been unpredictable.
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Runes, launched by Ordinals inventor Casey Rodarmor on April 20, has been marketed as a more efficient way to create new tokens on the Bitcoin network than the BRC-20 token standard and alternate solutions.
The decline in network fees and Bitcoin’s price has caused Bitcoin’s hash price — a key metric for measuring miner revenue — to drop to nearly its lowest level ever.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin miner reserves plummeted to 1.90 million Bitcoin on June 19, the lowest level in Bitcoin terms in over 14 years.
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