Bitcoin Runes have amassed over 2,500 Bitcoin (BTC) worth of transaction fees in less than two months, signaling the growth of Bitcoin-native decentralized finance (DeFi)

Runes, a new protocol for issuing fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network, has generated 2,513 BTC in total fees since launch, worth over $163 million, according to Dune data.

The milestone comes two months after the launch of the Runes protocol, which happened during the 2024 Bitcoin halving in April — signaling continued interest in the potential of Bitcoin-native DeFi, or BTCFi.

Additional transaction fees from protocols like Runes could extend a significant lifeline for Bitcoin miners post-halving after the Bitcoin block rewards were cut from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per successfully mined block.

Related: Bitcoin breaks 18-month hashrate uptrend: Are BTC miners capitulating?

Bitcoin Runes outperform BRC-20 tokens and Ordinals

Bitcoin Runes are becoming the dominant standard for issuing fungible tokens on the world’s first blockchain network.

Looking at the distribution of transactions, Runes-related transactions accounted for 12.2%, while BRC-20 transactions amassed 5% and Ordinals inscriptions accounted for 0.6% of total transactions on the Bitcoin network.

Over 82% of transactions remained regular BTC transactions, as of June 17, according to Dune data.

In terms of daily transaction count, there were 9,567 Runes-related transactions, with just 3,938 BRC-20 transactions, and 474 Ordinals-related transactions. Regular Bitcoin transactions stood at 64,620.

Runes have been outperforming BRC-20 tokens in terms of on-chain activity since their launch in April 2024.

Related: Corporate adoption is in ‘amateur league’ despite Bitcoin ETFs

Runes: a lifeline for Bitcoin miners

The rise in transaction fees from Bitcoin Runes is offering a lifeline for Bitcoin miners, according to Nazar Khan, the co-founder and COO of TeraWulf.

Khan told Cointelegraph in an exclusive:

“Runes significantly increased the transaction fees, so if anything, there was an increase in the hash price in the first 24-30 hours [after halving]. Since then, we’ve seen transaction fees come down, but compared to the average fees in 2023, they’re still pretty high.”

As the rest of the Bitcoin block reward is fixed issuance, the transaction fees are the “wild card” for Bitcoin miners, according to Khan

Magazine: Roaring Kitty’s GME shares hit $1B, BTC open interest soars, and other news: Hodler’s Digest, June 2–8