On April 20th, at 12:09 p.m. UTC, Bitcoin miner ViaBTC mined the 840,000th block, triggering the automated protocol that halves per-block Bitcoin (BTC) emissions every four years during the Bitcoin Halving event. This event has reduced mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
Revenue from Bitcoin mining reached unprecedented levels on the halving day, reaching $107.7 million in daily earnings, as users eagerly paid high fees to ensure their transactions were included in the historic 840,000th block. This resulted in a total of $2.4 million in fees, with 3,050 transactions recorded, for an average fee of just under $800 per user.
The surge in fees can be attributed to the rush of users seeking to engrave and etch unique Satoshis on the halving block. The newly launched Runes Protocol, developed by Bitcoin Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor, fueled this activity, offering a more efficient method for creating new tokens on the Bitcoin network compared to the BRC-20 token standard.
Runes Protocol utilises the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model to “etch” new tokens onto the Bitcoin blockchain, allowing users to inscribe individual Satoshis with unique identification numbers and embed them with arbitrary data directly into the blockchain.
Bitcoin mining pools also competed for the “epic” satoshi, the smallest possible Bitcoin denomination mined on the halving block. With the reduction in mining rewards, many miners faced a significant income loss, but the Runes Protocol has helped offset this decline, according to pseudonymous Ordinals developer Leonidas.
Despite initial concerns about the impact of the halving on Bitcoin mining operations, the positive outlook is indicated by the $3.82 million in fees spent on the five blocks following the halving, excluding miner subsidies.