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Bitcoin Transactions Hit Two-Year High Thanks to Runes Protocol

Bitcoin network activity has surged to its highest level in two years, mostly thanks to Runes' rapid rise. What this says about adoption and tokenization on Bitcoin, you can read here.

By Mike Hesp
• 1 min read
Bitcoin Transactions Hit Two-Year High Thanks to Runes Protocol

Key Takeaways

  • Daily Bitcoin transactions climbed above 820,000, the highest level since April 2024.
  • The increase lines up with heavy use of the Runes protocol, which logged more than 600,000 Runestones per day.
  • Runes uses the UTXO model and OP_RETURN to create and trade tokens on Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is seeing a notable jump in onchain activity, even though its price is still in a bear market. The number of daily Bitcoin transactions recently climbed above 820,000, the highest level since April 2024. That stands out because Bitcoin's price is hovering around $62,000 (€54,400), about 50% below last October's record, a period when network activity would normally be slowing down.

Runes Protocol Is Driving Network Activity

This rise in transactions lines up with strong growth in the use of the Runes protocol, a fungible token standard that launched in April 2024. Runes makes it possible to create and trade tokens directly on the Bitcoin blockchain, similar to how ERC-20 tokens work on Ethereum. Transactions that include messages from the Runes protocol, also known as Runestones, have climbed to more than 600,000 per day, another two-year high.

The Tech Behind Runes

The Runes protocol stands out because it uses Bitcoin's existing Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model and the OP_RETURN opcode to store token information. That creates a more efficient and more integrated way to manage tokens than earlier standards like BRC-20, which inscribed data on individual satoshis. Runes was developed by Casey Rodarmor, who is also known for the Ordinals protocol, and it has since drawn a lot of attention in the Bitcoin community.

Why This Matters for European Crypto Users

For European users, the growth of the Runes protocol could point to broader adoption of tokenization within the Bitcoin ecosystem, opening up new ways to create and trade digital assets on one of the most robust blockchains out there. This development could affect crypto market dynamics, especially around web3 applications and token standards that go beyond Ethereum.

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