Runes gains momentum on Bitcoin network as miner fees increase by 32%

Bitcoin-based non-fungible token (NFT) protocol Runes has seen transaction volume increase in the past week, according to data from Dune analytics. With the rise in Runes transactions, the protocol is gradually regaining a significant percentage of the transaction volume on the Bitcoin network.

According to the Dune Analytics data compiled by Cryptokoryo, Runes accounted for around a quarter of all Bitcoin network transactions over the past week. The protocol recorded as high as 19.4% of the transactions on October 7, but it fell to around 12% by October 10.

Though this is a far cry from its peak performance in April 2024, when it accounted for more than 60% of all Bitcoin network transactions, it is still a welcome development. The growth in transaction volume is peculiar to Runes, with other  Bitcoin-based protocols, such as Ordinals and BRC-20, seeing only a minimal increase in their weekly transactions. However, BRC-20’s share of transactions reached as high as 4% on October 6 before plateauing after.

Why is Runes transactions increasing

The rise in Runes transactions is likely connected to the recent increase in the value of Runes tokens. Data from Magic Eden shows that several Runes tokens, such as DOG, RSIC, BILLION, and DECENTRALIZED, have all seen double-digit gains over the past day.

LOBO saw the biggest gains over the last 24 hours, rising 49%, followed by BAMK and DECENTRALIZED with 41% and 37%, respectively. PUPS is also up 34%, and the biggest Rune token by market cap, DOG, is up 28%, causing its market cap to cross $500 million.

Despite the surge in price for all these tokens, their volume is relatively low, DOG has the highest at just $1.58 million, while the whole protocol has an on-chain-on-chain volume of around $5.3 million. There are rumors that DOG might soon get a listing on a major tier-1 exchange.

Meanwhile, there is also a generally bullish sentiment around Runes, with its volume doubling this week. This is partly due to expectations about the Swaps feature for Runes tokens on Magic Eden. The platform wants to release the feature by the end of October, and it could make trading Runes much easier.

Besides that, there has been a recent memecoin resurgence on Solana and Ethereum, and many expect Runes to benefit from this. Runes tokens are technically memecoins as they do not have any intrinsic value.

Bitcoin miners record a 32% increase in fees

Meanwhile, the resurgence in Runes transactions is welcome news for Bitcoin miners, who can now look forward to additional revenue from Runes transactions. As of October 6, Runes accounted for more than 12% of all fees on the network. However, that had fallen to 9% by October 10.

There seems to be evidence of that already in miners’ fees, given that fees rose 32.4% to reach $5 million this week. This represents a massive gain for miners, particularly with their recent revenue struggles due to lower block rewards.

With the increased activity on the Bitcoin network leading to higher fees for miners, BTC has also seen a lot of volatility in the past few days, culminating in almost 7% gains today. The flagship asset, which initially fell as low as $59,000 yesterday, has now soared again, reaching $63,000. It has been up 10% in the past 30 days.

Today’s gains mean Bitcoin does not end the week in the red after various events threatened to cause a collapse in its price. While the reason for BTC’s performance is not totally clear, it might be connected to the ease in selling pressure on Bitcoin after the Mt Gox exchange administrators extended the period for claiming BTC refund until 2025.