Did Bitcoin Loon not live up to the hype? It’s still too early to tell

runeBitcoin’s new fungible token standard sparked a cult following when it launched in April amid the company’s quadrennial Bitcoin halving event. But less than a month later, the initial impact appeared to be less significant than many Bitcoin backers had expected.

The launch of Rune was immediately met with a flurry of activity, with hundreds of token tickers being launched within the halving block. But demand has declined, partly due to expectations and a cooling in the cryptocurrency market that has led to broader price declines in recent weeks.

Source of data saturday screener This shows that 6 of the top 10 most traded runes have seen volume declines ranging from 20% to 57% over the past 7 days. Looking at the number of engraved runes, Dune’s data shows that etchings decreased significantly from thousands per day from early May to late April to hundreds per day at the end of May.

On social media, stories about runes are shared. Many expected the trading experience to be closer to trading well-established tokens, such as Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, rather than pre-split token blocks by users. This made it feel like you were trading NFTs rather than fungible tokens, and the nascent state of the technology created another hurdle for early traders.

However, a small but vocal group of users continue to actively trade Loon even amid the decline, some of whom have admitted that their enthusiasm has cooled since the Bitcoin halving.

So what does the future hold for Rune? Market observers were quick to spot similarities between Runes, created by Bitcoin developer Casey Rodarmor, and the NFT-like Ordinals. This highlighted a similar pattern of initial hype followed by a gradual decline in activity.

Others believe that runes may follow a similar level of maturity. The original BRC-20 Bitcoin token standard likewise saw an initial rush of excitement before a quiet period of less hype and demand, followed by a surge in value and trading activity. However, since Loon has been billed as a more “efficient” upgrade to the BRC-20, early trading disruptions may slow its momentum in the near term.

“First-time Bitcoin users may be dismayed to learn that the experience is no different from BRC-20, and is a far cry from the progress many have been pushing for in their timelines over the past few months.” FarmerJoe0xpseudonymous founder puppy tokensaid decoding.

“That said, several opportunities appear to be forming, such as a bridge connecting Loon to Bitcoin Layer-2 (network) and Solana,” they added. “Demand for Bitcoin tokens has proven to be strong on centralized exchanges, and we will see significant volume for these tokens (perhaps on other chains) once most cryptocurrency users have access to them in their preferred trading experiences. You can assume.”

Yunseop ChoiSenior Business Development Manager at Magic Eden, shares with decryption While he observed the decline, it was expected. Magic Eden emerged early on as one of the most popular rune trading venues, so he has a stake in their future. Choi is confident that Bitcoin’s fungible market has significant upside potential.

“The rune trading UI will get better and better, protocols may also be upgraded, and marketplaces like Magic Eden are investing in UI/UX improvements every day,” he said. “While the UI/UX can’t keep up with SOL or EVM layer 2 meme coin transactions, the transparency and immutability aspects of runes could be another way for runes to find their place.”

Choi added that meme coin launches are often plagued by internal issues within the team, including sniping, distribution to multiple wallets, and lack of clarity about how funds will be used. The Runes protocol solves many of these problems.

“Lune provides full transparency in the creation process, including details on pre-mining rates and mint criteria,” Choi explained.

Despite this cooling off period, Loon is still in its infancy, and proponents argue it is too early to rule it out. The technology continues to evolve, and there is potential for new interest and growth as the community becomes more familiar with rune features and the ecosystem matures.

In addition, rune trading Bitcoin still dominates these days, even if some of the hype has died down. Previous Bitcoin innovations such as Ordinals and the BRC-20 token took time to find wider trading interest and significant demand, but both eventually achieved significant market relevance. teaThe cryptocurrency world is watching Loon closely to see if (or when) that happens.

Editor: Andrew Hayward