What is Runes Protocol?

Runes Protocol is a new protocol developed by Casey Rodarmor - founder of the famous Ordinals protocol, to issue unified tokens (fungible tokens) on the Bitcoin network.

First introduced in September 2023, Runes is still in the testing phase and is expected to launch mainnet at the Bitcoin Halving event at block 840,000 in April 2024.

The biggest difference of Runes Protocol compared to other uniform token issuance protocols lies in the use of the UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output) model, which we will learn about in detail below.

Applying the UTXO model helps Runes Protocol solve the problem of fragmentation and congestion on the Bitcoin network caused by the trend of developing tokens according to the BRC-20 standard. This helps optimize system performance and scalability, while minimizing transaction costs for users.

With its groundbreaking vision and ability to solve the limitations of previous protocols, Runes Protocol is expected to become the new standard for token issuance on the Bitcoin network, marking an important step forward in the development of tokens. development of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.