The Runes protocol and Ordinals inscriptions have experienced a decline in activity since the halving and launch, which took place 29 days ago. Despite high expectations, the Runes protocol has failed to meet the anticipated level of activity. Similarly, the trend of Ordinals inscriptions has also significantly decreased over the past month.
Before the halving, the Runes protocol generated a great deal of excitement and was seen as a major development. However, since the halving occurred at block height 840,000, the impact on the network has been less significant than expected, as fees for transfers reached a peak of over $240.
The most active period for Runes mints and activity was on April 26, when thousands of etchings took place over a span of four days. However, the situation has changed dramatically since then. On April 30, 2024, a total of 86,047 etchings were added to the Bitcoin blockchain, but since that time, only 6,122 etchings have occurred over the past 18 days.
Throughout this period, there have been fluctuations in activity, with the lowest activity day occurring on May 12, when only 120 Runes were printed, and the highest activity day occurring on May 3, with 1,203 Runes etched. As of yesterday, May 17, only 143 etchings were recorded. Furthermore, the fees for producing Runes have decreased in line with the decrease in activity.
Since the launch of the Runes protocol, bitcoin (BTC) miners have earned $4.56 million in fees from Runes, with the majority of these fees collected during the etching period between April 19 and April 30. Additionally, data from Dune Analytics shows a significant slowdown in Ordinal inscriptions since April 20, with fewer than 35,000 inscriptions being processed each day.
While the initial enthusiasm for Runes and Ordinals inscriptions was strong, the data indicates that the excitement has diminished, at least for now, as activity levels have notably decreased in the month following the Bitcoin halving and the Runes protocol launch.
What are your thoughts on the decrease in Runes and Ordinals activity? Please share your opinions in the comments section below.