The 840,000th block of Bitcoin marked not only the halving but also the implementation of the Runes protocol, heralding the second season of meme coin hunting. Instead of declining, miners faced a record surge in income.
Network Hashrate
On April 20th, the block reward was halved from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, while the network hashrate reached a record 655 EH/s (as of 25.04.2024 the network hashrate (7D) = 643.55 EH/s)
In anticipation, miners dusted off even low-profit ASICs. The expected increase in transaction processing income was the key. Due to limited block capacity, users are forced to pay higher fees for faster transaction processing. The situation becomes especially acute when competition intensifies for a specific block.
Miner Transaction Fees
On April 20th, the average transaction fee soared to a record $128. Miner transaction fee income for just the 840,000th block reached 37.6 BTC or $2.4 million, exceeding the block reward ratio by over 10 to 1. In total, transaction fees that day amounted to $78,3 million, compared to just $3,2 million in Ethereum.
Runes Protocol
The excitement was once again related to meme coins: on the same block, the Runes protocol was launched to replace BRC-20. BRC-20 (similar to ERC-20 in Ethereum) are coins minted within the network and transferred through Satoshi numbering.
The problem with BRC-20 lies in the significant growth of UTXOs (Unspent Transaction Outputs), which the protocol’s creator, Casey Rodarmor, referred to as spam. He developed the Runes protocol, which eliminates this drawback.
Since meme coins do not carry useful payloads, one of the key attributes is the starting block. This explains the high competition and $2.4 million in paid fees. However, interest in minting remains, with 6,843 Runes tokens already issued. There are 435,000 transactions daily, accounting for 69% of the total.
The second phase of tokenmania has not affected Bitcoin’s value and position. It’s likely that interest in Runes will diminish closer to May, as happened with Ordinals and BRC-20, and fees will decrease. Miners will have to adapt to reduced overall income.
Disclaimer
Be forewarned that the content within our website is presented in utmost sincerity and intended for informational purposes only. Any course of action undertaken based on this information is solely at the reader’s discretion, assuming full responsibility for their decisions. This content also does not seek to persuade or advise anyone to invest, as it does not offer financial or trading guidance. We urge you to exercise caution and conduct thorough research, seeking guidance from a skilled financial advisor, before engaging in cryptocurrency or securities investments.