Record-Breaking Day: Bitcoin Confirms 1.6M Transactions In Latest Surge

Against a backdrop of growing Bitcoin adoption for everyday transactions, the Bitcoin network achieved a milestone with its highest tally of confirmed payments on April 23.

Three days following the new halving cycle on April 20, the Bitcoin network facilitated over 1.6 million distinct transactions between senders and recipients.

**The total number of confirmed payments per day. Source: Blockchain.com**

Data comparison between Blockchain.com and Glassnode reveals a clear connection between the introduction of Bitcoin Runes—a counterpart to Bitcoin Ordinals—and the BRC-20 protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain and the surge in daily Bitcoin transactions.

According to statistics from Dune Analytics, on April 23, Runes constituted 81.3% of the total Bitcoin transactions.

**Share of** ***BTC*** **transactions by type. Source: Dune Analytics**

BTC eventually regained the majority of transactions on the network. As of April 29, BTC accounted for 77.8% of all BTC transactions, with Runes contributing 18.8%. Other transactions on the BTC network consist of ordinals (1.2%) and BRC-20 (2.3%) transactions.

Bitcoin Runes: Mining Boosts & Market Trends

According to two major firms in the United States, Stronghold Digital Mining and Marathon, the surge in BTC Rune transactions has been a boon for the mining industry. In recent communications, they emphasized the positive impact of Runes, both financially and functionally.

Since the BTC halving, Rune transactions have contributed over 1,200 BTC in transaction fees to miners.

Despite the diminishing hype around Runes, decentralized finance (DeFi) researcher Ignas sees it as a genuine market opportunity. In an April 17th X post, Ignas wrote:

“Runestone, RSIC, and PUPS are gaining momentum, offering holders attractive new Rune token airdrops. FOMO threads continue to emerge. However, the market could soon stabilise like the NFT frenzy after the JPEG reveal.”

Runes and BRC-20 tokens represent new fungible token standards to enhance Bitcoin’s utility within the emerging paradigm of BTC DeFi, also known as BTCFi.

The author’s views are for reference only and shall not constitute any investment advice. Please ensure you fully understand and assess the products and associated risks before purchasing.