On the Eve of the RUNEs Rune Explosion
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On the Eve of the RUNEs Rune Explosion
Runes provide a simpler and more intuitive way to handle fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Crypto Insight
In today's article, we'll focus exclusively on the pure Runes protocol proposed by Casey and the RUNE ALPHA runes protocol.
Quick update: Today marks the one-year anniversary of ORDINALS. The journey of ORDINALS has only just begun.
Runes
Bitcoin runes are unique, fungible tokens existing on the Bitcoin blockchain. They are designed to represent fungible assets with distinct characteristics and metadata. Proposed by Casey Rodarmor, creator of the Ordinals protocol, this system is known as Runes. Runes aims to provide a user-friendly, UTXO-based alternative to existing tokenization protocols such as Ordinals, ORC-20, BRC-20, and Stamps.
Runes represent a completely new type of fungible token on the Bitcoin network. These tokens differ from existing alternatives in several key ways. First, runes are native to Bitcoin’s Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model. This minimizes the creation of “junk” UTXOs, enabling more responsible UTXO management and a smaller on-chain footprint. The Bitcoin blockchain was designed as a minimal and efficient ledger for transferring value through Bitcoin transactions.
Casey's Runes Protocol
Designed specifically for ease of use, Runes has the potential to bring impactful changes to the Bitcoin token ecosystem. By adhering to Bitcoin’s UTXO model, runes offer a form of “harm reduction” by reducing unnecessary bloat in the UTXO set—a major issue with existing protocols like BRC-20 and Stamps. Its simpler design could attract greater developer interest and participation, potentially accelerating innovation within the Bitcoin development community. A seamless user experience may also drive broader mainstream adoption, as users won’t need to manage native tokens or navigate off-chain complexities.
This enables flexible allocation and transfer of rune balances, with invalid protocol messages resulting in runes being burned—providing safeguards for future upgrades. Additionally, runes can be issued with specific human-readable symbols and decimal configurations, and their issuance and transfer do not require the use of native tokens, making the protocol less cumbersome and more user-friendly. Overall, runes offer a simpler, more intuitive way to handle fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain.
We don’t yet know when Casey’s Runes protocol will launch. Progress since September has been slow. However, there’s no doubt that once launched, it will present a prime opportunity to acquire early allocations—those who secure these positions could achieve wealth comparable to ORDI holders.
Among all inscription protocols, the only one truly capable of rivaling protocols like BRC-20 and ORDI is the RUNE protocol—especially considering it originates from the founder of ORDINALS himself, while BRC-20 is built atop ORDINALS. Stay tuned for developments.
RUNE ALPHA
Next, let’s discuss the rapidly rising RUNE ALPHA. This runes protocol has little direct connection to the runes proposed by Casey. Rune.Alpha explicitly states it is unrelated to Casey, and all discussions here are purely technical. However, according to recent official disclosures, they may have reached some form of consensus with Casey.
What is RuneAlpha?
RuneAlpha is a cutting-edge block explorer and integrated application built on the Rune protocol (Bitcoin). It serves as your gateway to deeply explore the Rune protocol, track transactions, process data, and gain comprehensive support for runes.
PSBT
Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBT) is a data format that allows wallets and other tools to exchange Bitcoin transaction information along with required signatures to complete the transaction.
A PSBT can be created to define a set of unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) for spending and a set of outputs to receive the spent value.
The RuneAlpha market is leveraging the power of PSBT in some very aggressive ways:
Multi-party transactions: PSBT is ideal for allowing multiple parties to sign the same transaction. We can mix and match signatures from buyers and sellers, then broadcast the final result to the Bitcoin network. This approach is both secure and significantly reduces fees for users.
Offline signing: PSBT includes convenient metadata that helps devices verify addresses and amounts accurately.
Why RUNE ALPHA Is Interesting
The project website is https://runealpha.xyz/. Currently, only minting and deployment functions are available; transfers and marketplace features have not yet launched.
The biggest difference between its deployment mechanism and BRC-20 is that when deploying a rune token on RUNE, the deployer earns $2 per mint—meaning minter must pay an additional $2 fee to the deployer. In contrast, inscriptions are free to participate in.
At first glance, this might seem less favorable for users, but it introduces a novel incentive model that could attract high-quality projects to participate in ecosystem building. If you were a project team, would you prefer to deploy on a platform where deployers earn revenue, or one where they don't? Think about it.
Currently, the leading rune on the RUNE protocol is COOK, with a total supply of 198,000. Minting cost ranges from $15 to $30 per unit, while over-the-counter trading prices hover around $400 each, giving it a market cap of $79.2 million. The official team has stated that $COOK holders will receive special benefits (ongoing utility enhancements).
Additionally, a portion of COOK tokens minted via contract will be burned, which will reduce the total supply over time.
Today’s hotly minted item in the market is PSBTS. Although not officially endorsed, community FOMO has driven widespread minting activity.
From the perspective of deployment service fees alone, PSBTS has already proven successful—simply deploying the rune protocol has generated $600,000 in revenue for the deployer (based on an estimated cap of 300,000 units, though actual numbers will likely exceed this).
And this is just from deployment income. Once the marketplace launches, deployers will also earn trading fee revenue—an undeniable golden goose. I believe this will attract many high-quality projects to build on the runes ecosystem, eventually unlocking a billion-dollar market cap for runes as a whole. As the current leader, COOK has the potential to reach market valuations comparable to ORDI and SATS—the top tokens in the BRC-20 space.
Moreover, miners’ enthusiasm for runes is expected to surpass that for other inscription protocols. Runes do not predefine a fixed total supply; instead, minting occurs only within a limited block window. The final supply depends entirely on how many participants engage. Once the designated blocks are exhausted, minting ends automatically.
A high-quality rune can trigger strong FOMO among users, keeping gas demand high within those blocks—making it highly profitable for miners.
END
There’s an unwritten rule on the Bitcoin chain: he who wins the miners, wins the ecosystem. Therefore, the era of runes has only just begun.
Runes have the potential to bring transaction fee revenue, renewed developer interest, and increased user engagement to the Bitcoin network. Combined with inscriptions, runes could deliver an unprecedented impact on the blockchain ecosystem.
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