Runes Protocol Helps Sustain Bitcoin Mining Industry, But There’s A Catch
The fourth Bitcoin halving may be considered to be the most memorable, as industry experts believe this event was unlike any other.
Bitcoin miners, in particular, were pleasantly surprised, as the recent halving sent BTC transaction fees soaring to record levels.
As a result, Bitcoin miners saw an impressive amount in total revenue. According to YCharts , miners took in a record $107.8 million on the day of the halving.
This came as a shock, as the halving was supposed to create a steep cut in revenue for crypto miners since rewards for new data blocks dropped by 50% during the event.
Yet the launch of Casey Rodarmor’s new Runes protocol – which took place the same day as the Bitcoin halving – proved so popular that it created network congestion, along with unusually high transaction fees.
To put this in perspective, Bitcoin transaction fees averaged a record $127.97 on April 20, 2024.
While this might have been frustrating for users sending transactions across the Bitcoin network, miners reaped the benefits.
Fun fact:
The first 77 blocks of epoch 5 have generated $75,000,000 in miner revenue
For reference, the final 77 blocks of epoch 4 generated just $35,000,000
The halving? More like the doubling.#Bitcoin miners are absolutely eating right now.
— Baylor Landry (@baylorlandry) April 20, 2024
Jamie McAvity, CEO of Texas-based Bitcoin mining company Cormint, told Cryptonews that the most important post-halving event has been that hashrate has not dropped at all.
“This was due to high fees being paid by Runes transactions,” McAvity said. “It’s a great sign of bullish activity going forward for this Bitcoin-native asset issuance technology.”
McAvity elaborated that there was a race to get transactions included
