- Runes protocol was activated as the fourth BTC halving went live
- Market watchers claim Runes will follow Ordinals and renew interest in Bitcoin
Bitcoin’s [BTC] fourth halving is here, activating the much-awaited Runes protocol. Like Bitcoin Ordinals, market watchers expect the new protocol to re-ignite interest in Bitcoin and bring more users to the network.
Runes is Bitcoin’s new fungible token standard, like what ERC-20 is to Ethereum [ETH]. This means it can be used to make a wide range of assets from memecoins to governance tokens on the Bitcoin network.
Reacting to the upcoming protocol, the $1.5 trillion asset manager Franklin Templeton recently noted,
“We are 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 launching in December 2022. In fact, both Bitcoin network activity and fees jumped 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 Ordinals’ success and boost BTC;s value?
Will Runes repeat Ordinal’s success after Bitcoin halving?
Bitcoin Ordinals’ market cap is now worth over $2 billion and is touted as a “cultural shift” in the Bitcoin network. However, it’s worth noting that the protocol has also met resistance on a regular basis. For instance, another Bitcoin developer, Dashjr, called ordinals and inscriptions “spam” to the network.
Nevertheless, market watchers are upbeat about Runes’ positive impact on Bitcoin. For his part, crypto-analyst Ansem views Runes as part of Bitcoin altcoins that are worth holding.
“I’m still heavily spot Solana + giga long Bitcoin, not via leverage, but via Bitcoin altcoins, I’m fairly confident this is just standard bull market pullback & we hold here. Runes summer.”
On the contrary, some see Runes as part of a growing Bitcoin L2 ecosystem that could revolutionize the DeFi sector and rival 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 that missed Eth defi summer 2020, I expect something similar with Bitcoin. The upcoming launch of Runes, L2s, memes/ordinals, and defi protocols is the perfect storm brewing.”
It’s worth pointing out that the creator of Ordinals and Runes, Casey Rodarmor, isn’t sure about how Bitcoin maxis will react to Runes after the Bitcoin halving. He believes,
“I don’t want them (Bitcoin Maxis) to like Inscriptions or Runes, but I think they shouldn’t care. Bitcoin is money for enemies.”
The Runes protocol is primarily designed to create memecoins and bring “degens” to the Bitcoin network. It is close to how meme mania ignited Solana’s network activity.
However, it remains to be seen how the community reacts to it and whether Bitcoin’s value will appreciate after the halving.