The Second Phase of Bitcoin: The 2024 Halving and the Advent of the Runes Protocol
Summary:
The article discusses the significant event of the 2024 halving in the cryptocurrency world and the simultaneous launch of the Runes protocol, marking a potential crucial milestone in Bitcoin's history. Known as "The second phase of Bitcoin," the Ordinals protocol has led to a cultural shift in the largest blockchain, enabling users to put various elements, including images, audio, and code files, on the Bitcoin blockchain. The Runes token protocol is set to launch at the halving, starting a competitive scramble for block space. With users becoming more educated about Bitcoin and the market preparing for the first tokens created with the Runes protocol, Bitcoin's second season is approaching one of its most exhilarating and transformative stages.
In the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency, this year's 2024 halving symbolizes a notable occasion. Notably, on the same day, the quest for the elusive first satoshi of the halving block will commence via the Runes protocol— a potentially monumental moment in the annals of Bitcoin (BTC).
Known as "The second phase of Bitcoin," the Ordinals protocol—introduced in December 2022— brought about a significant cultural shift within the biggest blockchain globally. It unlocked the capability for users to begin embedding elements such as images, sound exhibits, and coding files on the Bitcoin blockchain.
On its successful launch, developer Casey Rodarmor introduced the Runes token protocol, designed to assist in creating mutually interchangeable tokens on the Bitcoin network.
The Runes token protocol activates when the halving happens. This sets the stage for a competitive scramble for block space, where players vie for the issuance of the first tokens and the most appealing token names. This will be followed by a competitive market revolving around purchasing these tokens.
International exchanges are prepping to enlist the principal tokens introducing the Runes protocol. Marketplaces and Decentralised Exchanges, or DEXes, including Magic Eden and OKX, already announced their readiness to support tokens birthed from the Runes protocol, starting from day one.
The Runes and Ordinals protocols represent historical significance in contrast to blockchains like Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), commonly recognized for application development and issuing/exchanging other assets. Bitcoin has traditionally been viewed as an asset without a unique purpose.
Since the launch of Ordinals, the Bitcoin network has seen daily usage by thousands of people for asset procurement, priced in Bitcoin, for the first time in history. This has influenced a movement of over $3 billion through Ordinals assets, involving almost 600,000 distinct wallets and 2.5 million on-chain transactions in a timespan of slightly over a year.
The Ordinals protocol has had a unique cultural impact on Bitcoin that has shifted market perspective on this new phase of Bitcoin, characterized by an accelerating global innovation around the most extensive blockchain.
With newfound interest in exploring and developing on Bitcoin, resources such as wallets, nodes, Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) managers, and even the mempool have seen improvement.
The excitement intensifies around the valuable halving block, as the most fiercely contested and profitable block ever. In addition to the retail competition for block spaces, miners will engage in a fierce duel. One successful miner of the halving block will secure a satoshi categorized as "Epic," estimated to be valued at over $1 million.
In preparation for the anticipated Bitcoin network congestion, some projects have developed solutions to scale trading on the Runes protocol. Previously successful phenomena like a bridge enabling the exchange of Bitcoin assets on Solana are paving the way for Bitcoin-related platforms, such as RuneChain, a Bitcoin layer-2 focused on Runes.
Complementing the imminent arrival of the first tokens created with the Runes protocol, users are becoming more educated about Bitcoin. Thousands have begun running Bitcoin nodes and furthering their understanding about UTXOs to seize an upper hand during these token initiations.
Education has been prioritized by NFT communities such as the Pizza Ninjas. These groups have gone to great lengths to spread knowledge about these topics, creating comprehensive survival guides for Runes and offering round the clock support for holders of these NFTs.
In the lead-up to the Runes launch, the market is already experiencing a "pre-Runes season." A variety of Runes-standard tokens have been pre-distributed via airdrops to owners of Bitcoin NFTs. Each set follows its own distribution framework. Some are planning to take snapshots of NFT owners and distribute tokens post-halving, while others distribute tokens based on the length of NFT ownership.
Users are also racing to purchase BRC-20 tokens such as WZRD and PUPS, which will transition from the BRC-20 standard to the Runes standard.
As we move closer towards one of the peaks of Bitcoin's second season, the eminent arrival of the Runes tokens will generate a wide array of emotions and reactions but will come into existence regardless. Welcome to season two!
Please note, this article is intended for informational usage only and does not serve as legal or investment advice. The opinions, ideas, and thoughts expressed here solely reflect the author's individual views and may not mirror or represent the views and belief of Cointelegraph.
Published At
4/19/2024 12:29:13 AM
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