Runestone is currently the largest Ordinals airdrop activity, and the current floor price in the OKX NFT market is 0.04177 BTC. What exactly is Runestone? What are the characteristics of the Runes protocol behind it that cause such FOMO in the market?
What is Runestone?
Founder of Ordinals OG and Ord.ioLeonidas, inspired by RSIC, to celebrate the launch of Ordinals technology, viaAirdropped to over 112,383 Bitcoin addresses, becoming one of the largest Bitcoin Ordinals airdrop projects to date. Leonidas emphasized that although Runestone as a project does not seek any practical applications or functions, its value as a piece of culture and souvenir has attracted great attention in the crypto community.
The Runestone project is based on the Ordinals protocol and is designed as a pre-Runes project. This means that once Casey Rodarmor’s Runes protocol is released, those participating in the Runestone airdrop will be able to convert it into Runes tokens. This transition is expected to occur within 8 weeks of the Runes Protocol going live. When Leonidas first proposed the idea for this airdrop, Casey alsoComment below the tweet, discussing how to reduce Gas consumption, is regarded as a soft support by the community. The name Runestone comes from Ordinals founder Caseya tweetAt that time, Casey said that he was developing a feature implementation called Runestone under the Runes protocol. This edge has made Runestones meme properties full.
Although Runestone currently has no direct application scenarios, its wide distribution range and community culture have attracted widespread attention from the community. It not only heralds the innovative applications of digital assets and NFTs on the Bitcoin network, but also provides a new perspective on culture and community building in the encryption field.
Another important milestone for the Runestone project is its mining of the Bitcoin blockchainThe largest block of, thanks to the cooperation with Marathon Digital and Ordinals Bot, this 3.97 MB block not only demonstrates its technical strength, but also reflects the exploration of Ordinals technology. In addition, Runestone held an auction for the largest block, and the auction event resulted in a record price -8 BTC successfully dropped the hammer, all proceeds from the auction are used to cover network fees related to airdrops. This strategy not only supports the Bitcoin ecosystem, but also demonstrates the Runestone projects commitment to community feedback.
In addition to the narrative of Fairness + Airdrop + Rune, Runestone is so FOMO in the secondary market. Many community members believe that this is because Runestone is different from the previous Inscription season. It has both Chinese and Western crypto communities. consensus, while the previous Brc-20 was more attended by the Chinese-speaking community. Some even think that Runestone will become the biggest MEME in this bull market.
All in all, the Runestone project not only demonstrates the innovative potential of Ordinals technology and the markets expectations for the Runes protocol, but also explores new forms of crypto assets as souvenirs and cultural symbols. Whether the successful airdrop of Runestone and the crazy trading on the secondary market heralds the official beginning of the Rune Age has become a topic worthy of attention.
What are Runes?
After understanding Runestone, let’s explore the Runes protocol in depth.
The Runes protocol, originated from Ordinals founder Casey Rodarmor, aims to introduce a new type of asset on the Bitcoin network - runes. As an improved version of BRC-20, this protocol is dedicated to solving the efficiency and operational complexity issues caused by its reliance on inscriptions.Proposed a more concise and efficient Bitcoin asset issuance and management framework。
First of all, the Runes protocol has excellent compatibility and scalability, and can be seamlessly connected with Bitcoins UTXO model and second-layer protocols based on it, such as Lightning Network and CKB. Compared with other homogeneous token protocols such as BRC-20, Runes has significantly improved operational efficiency and user experience through simplified transaction processes and token balance management directly bound to UTXO.
The Runes protocol supports Simple Payment Verification (SPV) wallets, providing users with a lightweight transaction experience that cannot be achieved with traditional BRC-20. It also provides developers with a friendlier, more accessible development environment by providing a reference implementation and emphasizing compatibility with existing Bitcoin scripts and address types.
Secondly, Runes provides greater flexibility in token issuance, allowing token name lengths from 1 to 28 characters, and adopting a variety of innovative issuance mechanisms, including but not limited to fixed total issuance and public inscription distribution, even more expressive forms of distribution were considered. Among them, the fixed total amount method is more centralized, and all Runes are directly inscribed by the issuer and then distributed; while the public inscription method is based on specific parameter settings, such as block height or timestamp. The number of assets inscribed by the user within the specified time determines the number of Runes. The final total number of Runes. This not only enriches the token design space of the Bitcoin ecosystem, but also improves security and effectively avoids some common security risks.
In terms of UTXO management, Runes uses the OP_RETURN script to avoid the complexity and security risks that may be caused by the witness part of the transaction, reducing unnecessary UTXO generation, thus improving the overall health and efficiency of the network.
The Runes protocol is designed to reduce its on-chain footprint, encourage optimized UTXO usage, and integrate seamlessly with Bitcoins infrastructure. It aims to promote the development and innovation of the Bitcoin ecosystem by handling fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain in a more concise and intuitive way.
As Bitcoin is about to usher in the next round of halving, it is expected that the Runes protocol will be officially ready to debut at the important moment of block height 840,000. The specific time to go online depends on the mining speed of blocks, but according to the current block generation rate, it can be expected in late April 2024. This point in time marks the official entry of the Runes protocol into the Bitcoin ecosystem, opening a new chapter in the issuance and management of homogeneous tokens on the Bitcoin network.
It is worth noting that on the eve of launch, there were already protocols, such as Merlin,Said that it will provide 100% cross-chain bridge, DEX, indexer, minting services and more incentives for Runestone and Runes protocols.. This comprehensive support not only reflects the BTC communitys recognition of the potential of the Runes protocol, but also demonstrates the cryptocurrency communitys common pursuit of innovation and progress.
Although Runes is still in its early stages, the widespread attention and discussion it has attracted in the cryptocurrency community has proven its innovativeness and application value. Through a simplified UTXO model and an efficient token transfer mechanism, the Runes protocol not only brings new vitality to the Bitcoin network, but also opens up new possibilities for the diversified development and technological innovation of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
