The introduction of the Runes token standard on Bitcoin has brought significant profits to the ViaBTC Block. Runes are revolutionary and aim to replace the less efficient Bitcoin Ordinals.
During the recent Bitcoin halving event, users rushed to mint new meme coins using the new Bitcoin Runes protocol, resulting in $2.5 million in transaction fees. These record-breaking payouts were a result of users paying 37.7 BTC to include their transactions in the halving block.
The halving event reduced the amount of new Bitcoin awarded as block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. However, block 840,000, which marked the beginning of the halving process, turned out to be the most profitable block in Bitcoin’s history. It contributed a total of 40.751 BTC to ViaBTC, the lucky mining pool.
The Runes protocol, created by Casey Rodamor, the inventor of Ordinals, allows individuals to mint fungible Bitcoin tokens. The launch of Runes coincided with the Bitcoin halving event, and tokens like Satoshi.Nakamoto, RSIC, and Wanko Manko were issued on the halving block 840,000.
Transaction fees accounted for over 90% of ViaBTC’s mining reward for block 840,000, thanks to the increased activity driven by the issuance of Runes. Throughout the day, transaction fees made up 75% of all miners’ incentives. However, the fee increase quickly subsided after the Bitcoin halving.
Gas fees, which were initially around 0.0036 BTC or $240, dropped to around $34 or even lower. Despite this decrease, Alvin Kan, COO at Bitget Wallet, stated that the release of the Runes protocol has been a positive development for miners.
Transaction fees have become crucial for miners since the halving event reduced the issuance of new Bitcoins. Miners now rely on transaction fees and price increases in BTC to compensate for the reduction in block rewards.
Runes transactions are not the sole drivers of Bitcoin transaction fees, but the growing number of non-standard transactions (transactions involving more than just moving regular Bitcoin between addresses) generally supports miners’ income.
Runes differ from the BRC-20 token standard, which is complex and not UTXO-based. The BRC-20 standard generates a large number of unnecessary UTXOs, causing congestion on the Bitcoin network. Runes aim to replace the less efficient Ordinals-based BRC-20 token standard and require less block space, making them cheaper to issue and manage.
The halving event and the emergence of Runes have caused volatility in the price of Bitcoin. Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $66,133, showing a slight increase of 0.11% in the past day, with trading volumes reaching $24.7 billion.