Runes, the new fungible token standard on Bitcoin, had enthusiasts buzzing when it launched in April amid the quadrennial Bitcoin halving event. But less than a month later, the initial impact appears less monumental than many Bitcoin supporters expected.
The Runes launch was indeed marked by an immediate flurry of activity, with hundreds of symbolic tickers launched in the halved block. But demand has waned in part due to expectations and amid a cooling crypto market that has seen a steeper price decline in recent weeks.
Data from Satellite screen indicates that six of the 10 most traded runes have seen a decline in trading volume over the past seven days, ranging from 20% to 57%. In terms of the number of Runes engraved, Dune data shows that burning has decreased significantly since early May, from thousands per day in late April to a few hundred per day recently.
On social networks, discussions about the Runes are shared. Many expected the trading experience to be closer to trading well-established tokens like Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, not token blocks pre-split by users. This makes them feel more like they are trading NFTs rather than fungible tokens, with the early state of the technology creating another hurdle for early traders.
But a small but vocal group of users continues to actively trade runes amid the decline, with even some of them admitting that there is a cooling of enthusiasm since the halving event. Bitcoin.
So, what’s next for the future of Runes? Market watchers were quick to draw parallels between NFT-like Runes and Ordinals, both created by Bitcoin developer Casey Rodarmor, pointing to a similar pattern of early hype followed by a gradual decline in popularity. activity.
Others believe that the Runes may follow a similar maturation arc. Similarly, the older Bitcoin token standard BRC-20 saw a wave of initial enthusiasm before a calmer period with less hype and demand, followed by an increase in value and activity commercial. Runes have been touted as a more “efficient” upgrade to the BRC-20, however, so initial business issues could also blunt momentum in the short term.
“Users coming to Bitcoin for the first time may have been disappointed that the experience is no different than BRC-20, and is far from the progress many have promoted in their delays over the last few months.” FarmerJoe0xthe pseudonymous founder of Puppy Tokensaid Decrypt.
“That being said, several opportunities appear to be forming, such as bridges between Runes and Bitcoin layer 2. [networks], as well as Solana,” they added. “Demand for Bitcoin tokens is proving strong on centralized exchanges, and it can be assumed that when tokens become accessible in the trading experience most crypto users desire, we will see significant volumes – perhaps on other channels – to these tokens.
Yoonsup ChoiSenior Business Development Manager at Magic Eden, shared with Decrypt that although he observed the decline, it was expected. Magic Eden revealed itself early on as one of the most important destinations for the Runes trade, so it has a stake in their future. Choi remains convinced that the fungible Bitcoin market has significant upside potential.
“The rune trading UI will only get better, protocol upgrades can be made, and marketplaces like Magic Eden are investing in improving the UI/UX every day,” he said. he declared. “While UI/UX may never catch up with SOL or EVM layer 2 meme coin trading, the transparency and immutable aspect of Runes may be another way for Runes to find [their] place.”
Choi added that meme coin launches are often plagued by internal issues within the team, such as sniping, distribution across multiple wallets, and lack of clarity regarding the use of funds. The Runes Protocol addresses many of these concerns.
“Runes provide full transparency in their creation, including details on pre-mining percentages and minting criteria,” Choi explained.
Despite this period of reflection, the runes are still in their infancy and their supporters say it is far too early to rule them out. The technology is always evolving, and as the community becomes more familiar with Runes’ features and the ecosystem matures, there is potential for renewed interest and growth.
Additionally, Runes transactions are still dominates Bitcoin lately, although some of the hype has died down. Previous Bitcoin innovations such as the Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens were slow to generate wider commercial interest and significant demand, but both ultimately managed to achieve substantial market traction. TThe crypto world is closely watching if (or when) this happens with the Runes.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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