Summary
TLDR: Bitcoin miners earned more in fees than block rewards in a single day for the first time ever, thanks to the launch of the Runes protocol. Runes are fungible memecoins that exist entirely on-chain and have caused transaction fees to skyrocket. High fees may be problematic for some users, but miners are benefiting from the increased revenue. The future of Bitcoin fees and potential solutions, such as layer-2 networks, remain uncertain.
Key Points
1. Bitcoin miners earned more in fees than in block rewards for the first time ever in a single 24-hour period, reaching $80.74 million in fees and $26.28 million in bitcoin.
2. Runes, a new protocol for minting memecoins, was released during the halving weekend, leading to a surge in Rune mints and an all-time high in average transaction fees.
3. Despite the high fees, Bitcoin’s expensive nature may be necessary to offset lost revenue from the halving schedule, potentially pricing out users with low balances and necessitating the use of layer-2 solutions in the future.