TechFlow reports that the Bitcoin Runes protocol is facing challenges in maintaining its share of Bitcoin transactions. Since its launch on April 20, Runes transactions have dominated Bitcoin blockchain traffic on eight separate days, primarily concentrated over weekends.
The rollout of Runes coincided with the fourth Bitcoin halving, sparking a surge that drove transaction volumes on the Bitcoin blockchain and pushed miner revenues above $100 million for the first time. On April 23, Runes transactions peaked at 81.3% of total activity, but this dropped to 11.1% by May 2. During the weekend of May 4–6, Runes activity rebounded slightly, though overall it has shown a downward trend. As of May 22, Runes transactions accounted for 12.7% of activity, significantly higher than Bitcoin Ordinals (0.7%) and BRC-20 (1.5%). Runes transaction volume has declined more than 84% from its all-time high.
