- The network became overloaded with more than 232,000 transactions awaiting approval
- The astronomical increase in fees was attributed to the launch of the Runes Protocol
Bitcoin [BTC] underwent its fourth halving earlier today and contrary to what you might think, miners have been celebrating ever since.
Rewards down, costs up
Although the rewards given to miners for creating each block halved, they were more than offset by a boom in transaction fees paid by users.
According to AMBCrypto’s analysis of Mempool data, the iconic halving block – 840,000 – saw a whopping 37.62 BTCs in fees collected by miners, worth almost $2.4 million at prevailing market prices. Combined with the reduced block grant of 3.12 BTCs, miners made more than $2.6 million from the block. Several blocks after the halving also generated over a million in fees.
Total fees shot up dramatically, surpassing the Ordinals’ frenzy in December and remaining just below the all-time highs (ATH) of May 2023.
Source: Mempool
At the time of writing, the cost per transaction ranged between $50 and $60. In fact, there were more than 232,000 transactions pending approval and memory usage exceeded 300 MB.
Say hello to Runes
Popular Bitcoin Market Analyst Dylan LeClair tied the astronomical increase in fees to the new token protocol, Runes, which went live with the halving block.
Developed by Casey Rodmarmor, who also introduced the Bitcoin Ordinals concept last year, Runes also allows users to mint tokens on the Bitcoin chain. However, unlike the Ordinals inscriptions, each Rune unit is the same, meaning they can be interchanged.
According to the Rune explorerBy about 1171, at the time of going to press, Runes had been ‘etched’ – the term given for their creation on the chain. The total number of transactions approached 44,000, with $12 million in fees collected.
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Old fault lines resurface
Like Ordinals, Runes’ launch drove a wedge between Bitcoin purists and pragmatists. Dylan LeClair called Runes “pure degenerate speculation” and offered no utility whatsoever.
A crypto trader Moon complained about the complexity of the technology, describing it as “complete chaos.”
However, another X user uoffreetepuppelprobably a proponent, exclaimed the skeptics who previously expressed concerns about Ordinals and Runes now.
Meanwhile, miners whose revenue streams were affected after the halving aren’t complaining one bit.