As of April 19, the implementation of the Runes protocol has led to a significant increase in block utilization, with transactions related to Runes accounting for 81% of block usage on April 23. In contrast, traditional financial activities only made up 18.8% of the processed transactions.
The dominance of Runes-based transactions is evident in recent data. As of April 25, 2024, these transactions account for 43% of the network’s activity, slightly lower than the figure of just over 51% on the previous day. However, on April 23, it reached an impressive 81%.
Bitcoin network’s share of transactions via Dune Analytics.
In the midst of Runes’ takeover, transactions involving Ordinals and BRC20s have remained relatively steady, representing only 1% of recent transactions. Although transaction fees were initially lower in the days following the halving event on April 19, onchain costs have seen periodic increases during peak hours. For instance, the average transfer fee rose from slightly above $24 on April 22 to $28 by April 28.
Bitcoin’s hashprice as of April 25, 2024.
Despite occasional spikes in fees during busy periods, overall onchain costs have generally trended downward since the halving. The hashprice, which represents the value of 1 petahash per second (PH/s) of hashing power per day, has significantly declined. It remained above $100 from March 25 to April 18, reaching a high of $108. However, as of 6 a.m. Eastern Time on April 25, 2024, it has fallen to just over $58 per petahash. Although there was a slight decrease in the hashrate from 655 exahash per second (EH/s) to 621 EH/s by April 22, it has stabilized at 644 EH/s today. Consequently, despite the increased activity from Runes protocol transfers, Ordinals, and BRC20s, miners are currently earning significantly less revenue than before block 840,000.
What are your thoughts on the dominance of Runes transactions? How do you feel about the declining miner revenue? Please share your opinions and insights on this matter in the comments section below.
