Bitcoin was not created initially to support the creation of fungible tokens on its network. This made the Bitcoin network unattractive to developers. Ethereum and other Blockchains that came after Bitcoin were able to make up for this deficit in Bitcoin.

Casey Rodarmor introduced ordinals, a new feature on the Bitcoin blockchain that allows for the creation of unique, digital artifacts by inscribing data directly onto individual Satoshis, the smallest units of Bitcoin.

Runes was introduced in September 2023 to offer a new fungible token standard to Bitcoin’s Ecosystem. Before Runes, there were BRC20 tokens that also offered fungible token standards to the Bitcoin ecosystem. Unfortunately, BRC20 tokens have an issue with creating UTXOs. UTXOs mean Unspent Transaction Outputs which can clog up the network thereby further affecting the scalability of the network.

Why Runes?

Runes will come with limitless collectibility, unlike ordinals; giving more people the opportunity to own them. It will usher in, a more collector economy into the Bitcoin ecosystem, each with its use case and approach. This means more developers, more tokens, and more varieties for the users.

Runes utilizes the UTXO model for on-chain data storage, inheriting Bitcoin's security model, enhancing safety, and reducing vulnerabilities. This design makes Runes more resistant to reorganizations(when the Bitcoin network has to choose between two versions of its transaction history), ensuring greater stability for transactions amid changes in Bitcoin's transaction history.

Rune utilizes the UTXO model by picking up pieces of Bitcoin that haven't been spent yet and using them to create new transactions. This means that Rune Traces each Bitcoin back to its creation ensuring that every coin is unique and hasn't been falsely duplicated, giving you confidence that the Bitcoin you own or accept in a transaction is genuine and truly yours.

Thirdly, Runes is compatible with the Bitcoin Lightning network; a separate layer on top of Bitcoin, that can enable faster and cheaper transactions.

There will be a huge adoption of products that will be built on the Bitcoin network through Runes. Many Bitcoin fans have long waited for this. Lots of projects will also come to light, some will come to stay while others will scam investors. Be careful when investing....