Runes down in popularity
The decline in network activity is largely driven by reduced use of the Runes protocol for token minting on Bitcoin. Runes relies on OP_RETURN codes to store token-related data, but the number of these codes used in transactions has dropped significantly.
In April 2024, daily OP_RETURN codes peaked at 802,000 but have since fallen to an average of 10,000 per day in January.
As of Feb. 4, Runes-related transactions totaled 6,110, accounting for about 2.5% of Bitcoin’s daily transaction volume, based on data from a Dune Analytics dashboard created by Crypto Koryo.
From Jan. 1 to Feb. 4, Bitcoin transfers made up 73.5% of daily network activity, significantly surpassing transactions related to Ordinals, BRC-20 tokens, and Runes.
This decline is also evident in Bitcoin’s mempool. Unconfirmed transactions have plummeted from 287,000 in December 2024 to just 3,000 — a 99% drop. The mempool last recorded such low activity in March 2022.
Despite signals that BTC may be overpriced, said in a recent report that Bitcoin remains resilient, even after the market shock caused by tariff plans.
In January, BTC outperformed the broader crypto market by gaining 9.4%, while the wider market saw an average decline of 25.7%.
Bitcoin Market Data
At the time of press 12:01 am UTC on Feb. 6, 2025, Bitcoin is ranked #1 by market cap and the price is down 1.32% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin has a market capitalization of $1.91 trillion with a 24-hour trading volume of $49.27 billion. Learn more about Bitcoin ›
Crypto Market Summary
At the time of press 12:01 am UTC on Feb. 6, 2025, the total crypto market is valued at at $3.17 trillion with a 24-hour volume of $127.11 billion. Bitcoin dominance is currently at 60.37%. Learn more about the crypto market ›
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