- The Runes Protocol was activated when the fourth BTC halving went live
- Market watchers claim that Runes will follow Ordinals and renew interest in Bitcoin
Bitcoins [BTC] The fourth halving has arrived, activating the long-awaited Runes Protocol. Like Bitcoin Ordinals, market watchers expect the new protocol to reignite interest in Bitcoin and bring more users to the network.
Runes is Bitcoin’s new fungible token standard, as ERC-20 is for Ethereum [ETH]. This means it can be used to create a wide range of assets, from memecoins to governance tokens on the Bitcoin network.
In response to the upcoming protocol, $1.5 trillion asset manager Franklin Templeton recently decided noted,
“We’re excited to see if Runes can do for Bitcoin’s fungible token and DeFi market what Ordinals did for Bitcoin’s non-fungible token market.”
For perspective, Bitcoin Ordinals recorded explosive growth after its launch in December 2022. In fact, both Bitcoin network activity and fees increased exponentially soon after.
Casey Rodarmor, the Bitcoin developer behind the Ordinals protocol, is also the creator of the Runes protocol. Ergo the question: can it repeat the success of the Ordinals and increase the value of BTC?
Will Runes repeat Ordinal’s success after Bitcoin’s halving?
Bitcoin Ordinals’ market cap is now worth over $2 billion and is being touted as a “cultural shift” in the Bitcoin network. However, it is worth noting that the protocol does also regularly encountered resistance. For example, another Bitcoin developer, Dashjr, mentioned ordinal numbers and inscriptions “spam” to the network.
Nevertheless, market watchers are optimistic about Runes’ positive impact on Bitcoin. For his part, crypto analyst Ansem views Runes as part of Bitcoin altcoins worth holding.
“I see Solana + giga long Bitcoin still heavy, not through leverage, but through Bitcoin altcoins. I’m pretty sure this is just a standard bull market pullback and we’re holding here. Runic summer.”
Rather, some see Runes as part of a growing Bitcoin L2 ecosystem that could revolutionize the DeFi sector and compete with Ethereum and Solana. [SOL]. One of the BTC L2 enthusiasts is Imran Khan of Alliance DAO, a network for mentoring crypto founders. He stated,
“For those who missed Eth defi summer 2020, I expect something similar with Bitcoin. The impending launch of Runes, L2s, memes/ordinals and defi protocols is the perfect storm brew.”
It’s worth pointing out that Ordinals and Runes creator Casey Rodarmor isn’t sure how Bitcoin maxis will react to Runes after Bitcoin’s halving. He believes,
“I don’t want them (Bitcoin Maxis) to like Inscriptions of Runes, but I don’t think they care. Bitcoin is money for enemies.”
The Runes Protocol was primarily designed to create memecoins and bring “degens” to the Bitcoin network. It’s close to how meme mania fueled Solana’s networking activity.
However, it remains to be seen how the community will react to it and whether Bitcoin’s value will increase after the halving.