Summary
TLDR: Runes is a new protocol from the creator of Ordinals that allows for the creation of fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network. It will launch around the time of the upcoming Bitcoin halving and aims to drain liquidity, technology, and attention away from other cryptocurrencies back to Bitcoin. Various projects are already building on Runes, but it’s important to note that there is a distinction between the protocol itself and the tokens built on it. Runes is meant for creating speculative assets and not for funding development projects.
Key Points
1. Runes is a new protocol developed by Casey Rodarmor, the mind behind Ordinals, that aims to make the process of creating fungible tokens on Bitcoin more efficient.
2. Runes uses an Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model, similar to Bitcoin itself, as opposed to an account model used by some other chains like Ethereum, which many Bitcoiners believe to be superior for token creation.
3. The launch of the Runes protocol is timed to coincide with the Bitcoin halving event, which is expected to occur around April 20, and several projects, such as RSIC, Runestone, Node Apes, and RuneX, are already building around the Runes protocol in anticipation.