Although Bitcoin generally dominates its blockchain network's activities, a clear victor has emerged from the ongoing bandwidth competition among the Bitcoin standards - Ordinals, BRC-20, and Runes.

Onchain activity serves as a vital gauge of real-time market demand and the overall community interest. Since its initiation on April 20, Runes, a standard protocol enabling the creation of interchangeable tokens on Bitcoin (BTC), has surpassed the well-established Ordinals and BRC-20 standards in terms of transaction prevalence.

Share of transactions by different Bitcoin standards.

Carpooling on the Bitcoin Network

In the year 2024, the BRC-20 token standard seized over 50% of the Bitcoin blockchain bandwidth for seven consecutive days. In contrast, Rune achieved this milestone within just 10 days, a mere three months after its introduction.

Runes recently claimed the majority of the Bitcoin blockchain on two successive days - June 10 and 11, utilizing 51% and 53% of the network bandwidth, respectively. This surge demonstrates a considerable level of interest among investors in the ecosystem.

However, on March 30, BRC-20's transaction share peaked over 50% but has since struggled to keep up with BTC and its novel standards.

Delve deeper into Bitcoin Runes and their distinctions from BRC-20 tokens with the Cointelegraph guide.

Influence on Bitcoin Mining

The escalation in network activity has facilitated Bitcoin miners in upholding their monthly revenues. Since its inception, Runes have produced around 2,500 BTC, equating to approximately $170 million in market value.

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Daily transactions distribution in Runes. Source: Dune Analytics

The bulk of transactions in Runes are linked to minting. To date, Runes have generated 1,377 BTC in mining fees, 61 BTC in etching, and 1,011 BTC in edicts.

Runes and BRC-20s are just a stepping stone for Bitcoin DeFi

On April 23, the Bitcoin network managed over 1.6 million distinct transactions between senders and receivers, marking the highest count of confirmed payments.

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Total confirmed payments per day. Source: Blockchain.com

The advent of Bitcoin Runes has been instrumental in the upsurge of total transactions within the Bitcoin network.

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