This development could transform Bitcoin’s blockchain

On April 19, Bitcoin Runes was born, a new protocol for creating tokens on Bitcoin. The launch of the protocol coincided with the Bitcoin halving, which immediately created a huge hype around this new protocol.

In the first two days after launch, more than 7,000 Runes tokens were minted.

More than 91,000 Runes in circulation

There are currently more than 91,000 Runes in circulation on Bitcoin and the miners earned $4.5 million in transaction fees from this.

At the height of the Runes hype on Bitcoin, transaction fees rose to an average of $128.45 each. Around that point, analysts started wondering whether a repeat of the NFT and DeFi summer of 2021 might be in the cards.

At the time, the launch of several decentralized applications and the breakthrough of NFTs caused a massive bull run. The Ethereum blockchain was especially popular at that time.

However, it didn’t take long for Runes to lose popularity. At this moment, the number of Runes transactions has already dropped by 99%. The graph above shows how the hype has died down.

Smart contracts op Bitcoin?

While Runes were presented with much fanfare on Bitcoin, this does not apply to OP_CAT, an improvement proposal for Bitcoin’s blockchain.

This upgrade would make it possible to use smart contracts on Bitcoin, after Satoshi Nakamoto himself turned it off in 2010. OP_CAT would allow setting up logical loops and conditional contracts.

In theory, this opens doors for Layer-2 solutions, smart contracts and much more.

If OP_CAT passes, it could fundamentally change how people use Bitcoin and start a renaissance for projects that want to make Bitcoin more programmable.

DeFi and other exciting developments could make their way to Bitcoin. The expectation is that we will get more clarity about this in 2025. In that respect, we just have to be patient a little longer.

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