Runes, a new token standard on the Bitcoin blockchain, has seen its daily average transaction count plummet over 88% from its highest point this month.
Daily Runes transactions averaged out at 37,820 between June 22-28, marking a near-90% fall from the 331,040 daily average seen between June 9-15, according to Dune Analytics data from Crypto Koryo.
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 between 4.9-11.1% of all Bitcoin transactions over 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 straight 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 timeframe.
These protocols were initially touted as a new revenue stream for Bitcoin 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.
Runes, which was 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 compared to the BRC-20 token standard and alternate solutions.
The drop in network fees and Bitcoin’s price has caused Bitcoin’s hash price — a crucial metric measuring miner revenue — to tumble 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.
