Rune

Bitcoin

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With Bitcoin finally completing its fourth-year halving cycle, many users are aggressively competing for halving blocks, paying exorbitant amounts of fees to mine a single block.&nbsp; 
<h2 id="bitcoin-mining-pool-pays-over-2-4-million-in-block-fees">Bitcoin Mining Pool Pays Over $2.4 Million In Block Fees</h2> 
Earlier today, the 840,000th block was added to the Bitcoin blockchain, <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/breaking-bitcoin-halving-2024-complete-what-expect/" rel="nofollow">triggering the onslaught of the highly anticipated halving event</a>. While the price of BTC did not witness a dramatic change following the halving, transaction fees spiked to unprecedented highs.&nbsp; 
Amidst the massive competition, a mining pool identified as ViaBTC had successfully mined the 840,000th Bitcoin block. Cumulatively, BTC users had spent a staggering $37.7 BTC in mining fees, equivalent to $2.4 million, recording the highest fee ever paid for a Bitcoin block.&nbsp; 
According to <a href="https://mempool.space/block/0000000000000000000320283a032748cef8227873ff4872689bf23f1cda83a5" rel="nofollow">reports</a> from mempool, after ViaBTC had produced the 840,000th block, the protocol had initiated an automated <a href="https://www.newsbtc.com/bitcoin-news/bitcoin-halving-anticipating-price-impact-miner-challenges-and-long-term-outlook/">reduction of miners’ reward</a> by half, from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block. In addition to the fees, ViaBTC had received a total payout of 40.7 BTC, valued at approximately $2.6 million, for mining the historic block.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
While it may seem that <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-miners-accumulating-btc-100000/" rel="nofollow">Bitcoin miners</a> had thrown caution to the wind by spending over $2.4 million on a single block, the 840,000th block had a major significance within the cryptocurrency space. The historic <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-block-800000-mined-btc-epic-achievements/" rel="nofollow">Bitcoin block</a> is said to hold the first Satoshis, ‘sats,’ the smallest units of BTC following the halving.&nbsp; 
There are several of these “epic sats,” that appear after the halving event, coveted as a rare collector’s item among cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Some even speculate that these <a href="https://x.com/ord_io/status/1780680724749627677?s=46" rel="nofollow">Bitcoin fragments</a> could be potentially worth millions of dollars.&nbsp; 
Including the hype surrounding these fragmented BTC, much of the competition for the Bitcoin blocks, following the halving has been attributed to the new <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/runes-protocol-launches-bearish-factors-to-consider/" rel="nofollow">Runes Protocol</a> which launched at the same time as the Bitcoin halving.&nbsp; 
<h2 id="degens-rush-to-secure-infamous-rune-tokens">Degens Rush To Secure Infamous Rune Tokens</h2> 
The Runes Protocol, created by Casey Rodamor, a Bitcoin developer, has sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency community, as degens are avidly <a href="https://x.com/ord_io/status/1781493312995635317?s=46" rel="nofollow">competing</a> to etch and mint tokens directly on the Bitcoin network.&nbsp; 
While mining pools were mining new Bitcoin blocks, degens had paid over 78.6 BTC valued at $4.95 million to <a href="https://runealpha.xyz/" rel="nofollow">mint</a> the rarest <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/runes-protocol-launch-as-bitcoin-halving-nears/" rel="nofollow">Runes</a>. This exponential surge in fees has been an unprecedented event, highlighting the increased adoption and participation of the Bitcoin network. 
According to <a href="https://x.com/ord_io/status/1781505819214856405?s=46" rel="nofollow">reports</a> from Ord.io, a Rune labeled as ‘Decentralized’ was acquired for a fee of 7.99 BTC, equivalent to $510,760. While another titled ‘Dog-Go-To-The-Moon’ was obtained for a fee of 6.73 BTC, worth approximately $429,831. 
Leonidas, protocol developer and host of the groundbreaking <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/what-are-bitcoin-runes/" rel="nofollow">Ordinals</a>, a system for numbering “epic sats,” has <a href="https://x.com/leonidasnft/status/1781482652895203741?s=46" rel="nofollow">declared</a> the Runes Protocol a remarkable success as degens have “single-handedly offset the drop in miner rewards from the halving.” He concluded that Runes have significantly impacted <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/cathie-wood-bitcoin-is-king-of-security/" rel="nofollow">Bitcoin’s security</a> budget, potentially playing a major role in ensuring the network’s sustainability. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium" src="https://www.tradingview.com/x/qtc8GYuF/" alt="Bitcoin price chart from Tradingview.com (Bitcoin halving)" width="3286" height="1530">

Battle For The Halving Block: Bitcoin Users Spend Record $2.4 Million On Block 840,000

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