Bitcoin Runes fade away: Examining the effects on BTC miners

April 30, 2024

2 minutes read

Bitcoin transactions have dropped.
Miners are currently underpaid as Runes transactions dropped.

After the halving event, Bitcoin [BTC] fees experienced an unexpected spike, leading to a corresponding increase in miner fees.

Runes had emerged as a significant contributor to the network’s transactions post the halving event. However, this spike has since subsided, resulting in declining transaction fees and miner revenue.

Runes continue to contribute to Bitcoin transactions

According to data from Glassnode, Runes has contributed approximately $117 million to transaction fees thus far. Notably, more than half of these fees were generated on the day of the Bitcoin halving.

These transactions and associated fees led to a spike in network activity, providing miners a substantial fee increase.

Further analysis conducted on Dune revealed that Runes ranked second in terms of transactions on the network.

Until press time, Runes accounted for over 19% of total transactions, and was the second-highest contributor to network fees, although its contribution has decreased notably.

At press time, Runes contributed over 12% of total network fees.

Source: Dune Analytics

Runes effect fading on Bitcoin miners

AMBCrypto’s analysis of Bitcoin miners’ fees revealed that they were experiencing a period of underpayment.

As depicted by a Glassnode chart, miner revenue has dropped into negative territory, indicating that mining difficulty exceeded the reward earned.

Furthermore, the fee metric on Glassnode showed a significant decline, hovering around 45 BTC at press time.

Source: Glassnode

The miner revenue percentage metric has also experienced a notable drop, sitting at approximately 10% at press time. Before this decline, miner revenue and fees were above 40% and 1,200 BTC, respectively.

This surge in metrics was primarily driven by the spike in transactions caused by Rune. However, with a decrease in Rune transactions, fees, and associated metrics have also declined.

Overall, transaction volume remains low as traders await a more positive trend in the price of Bitcoin.

BTC wipes off initial gains

According to AMBCrypto’s daily price trend chart analysis, Bitcoin was experiencing a negative trend. At the time of this writing, BTC was trading at approximately $61,900, reflecting a decline of nearly 3%.

Read Bitcoin’s [BTC] Price Prediction 2024-25

This represented a reversal from the positive trend observed in the previous trading session, during which BTC saw an increase of over 1%.