The Runestone, the largest ordinal inscription by block size, will be auctioned, NFT historian Leonidas said on Wednesday. According to Leonidas, the current high bid for the Runestone inscription is 63,140,674 0.26 BTC, approximately $17,261.61 on the Ord City marketplace.
Leonidas said that all proceeds from this auction will cover Bitcoin network costs associated with the Runestone airdrop and will go to Bitcoin miners.
“There is no team assignment, pre-sales, etc., and the open source eligibility algorithm is designed not to favor whales,” Leonidas said. “Runestone is a non-utility project, and The Runestone and the delegates’ inscriptions that refer to it are collectible works of art intended to be worn as badges of honor for those who showed up and believed in the Ordinal Protocol when no one else did .”
The Runestone is being auctioned!
It is the largest ordinal inscription ever mined in the largest block in Bitcoin history.
100% of the proceeds will go towards covering Bitcoin network costs for the Runestone airdrop initiative.
Lot closes Friday at noon ET
→ https://t.co/AaoaC8ufC5 pic.twitter.com/PrwoGFZ1xL
— Leonidas (@LeonidasNFT) March 6, 2024
The Runestone auction runs until March 8, 2024 at noon.
The highly anticipated Runestone airdrop was first announced in February. On Monday, the Runestone ordinal number was inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain. The 3.97 MB project took up two full blocks on the network.
“It is one of only seven Ordinal inscriptions larger than 400,000 bytes (400 KB) and was created in collaboration with OrdinalsBot and Marathon Digital Holdings, who mined it in block 832,947,” he said. “Which set the record as the largest block in Bitcoin history (3,991,547 bytes/3,991 MB).”
Although Leonidas did not reveal the date of the event, during the upcoming Runestone airdrop, more than 112,000 eligible Bitcoin addresses will receive a Runestone ordinal inscription.
The Runestone Auction Update
Highest bid: 0.26 BTC ($17,261.61)
Remaining time: 1 day 18 hoursThe collateral requirement has been increased to 10% or 1 BTC for the maximum bid.
On Friday, the winning bidder has 4 hours to pay the full amount or they will lose their collateral… pic.twitter.com/hrdAiTKj8G
— Leonidas (@LeonidasNFT) March 6, 2024
After the halving, once the Runes protocol is live on Bitcoin, Leonidas said Decluttera Rune Token is dropped to Rune Stone holders proportionally based on the number of Rune Stone Inscriptions they have in their possession.
“This latest airdrop could be quite expensive as Bitcoin network fees are expected to rise after the halving, which is the most important variable. Some people are asking for sustainable fees of more than 1,000 sats/vB,” Leonidas said.
Leonidas added that the Runes Protocol will go live on Bitcoin L1 at block 840,000, when the halving will take place sometime around April 20, 2024.
The art on the Runestone inscription was created by artist Léo Caillard, who Leonidas said donated the image to the Runestone project under a Creative Commons license.
“[Runestone] symbolizes humanity’s enduring desire to make marks that will last a lifetime and to communicate with future generations,” said Leonidas. “This undertaking was more than a technical achievement. It is a bridge between past, present and future, a reminder that art, in all its forms, aims to capture the ephemeral and make it eternal.”