Source: Xverse

Over the last couple of days, Runes has gained attention in the crypto community and this article aims to shed light on Runes projects.

What is Runes?

Runes is a new protocol that will be used to create fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. Created by Casey Rodarmor, the brain behind Ordinals, Runes offers an alternative to the BRC-20 standard, which is based on the Ordinals standard, striving to simplify token creation and management while seamlessly integrating with Bitcoin's infrastructure. The most exciting and anticipated aspect of Runes is the hope of the “normality” it will bring to the Bitcoin ecosystem like meme coins and shitcoins.

Runes is independent of ordinals or inscriptions and “it is a legitimate competitor to Taproot Assets” as tweeted by Rodarmor. It is expected to go live on the day of Bitcoin halving, 20th April 2024. The plan to create Runes has been in motion since late last year and will be in motion starting tomorrow. Rodarmor believes creating a new fungible token protocol on Bitcoin might “bring significant transaction fee revenue, developer mindshare, and users to Bitcoin.” Runes will launch on block 840,000.

Rodarmor will likely issue the first Runes token himself. Subsequently, a significant influx of Runes tokens on Bitcoin is anticipated, increasing trading and investment opportunities within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

In 2023, Rodarmor introduced Ordinals technology, enabling the creation of Bitcoin-based NFTs uniquely. Runes will now launch an era of fungible crypto tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. Although not the pioneering fungible token standard for Bitcoin, Runes is poised to be the initial technology facilitating a seamless and user-friendly approach to crafting Bitcoin-based cryptos.

What is Etching?

Etching is the process of creating new Rune tokens. While minting is the process of adding new Rune tokens to the existing supply.

Projects Building on the Runes Protocol

1. Runestone: Runestone stands among the earliest and most renowned projects centered around Runes. It constitutes a Bitcoin NFT collection based on Ordinals, where each NFT showcases a 3D stone bearing an ancient rune symbol inscription. Created by @LeonidasNFT on X. There are 112,400 Runestone NFTs in the collection and it has grown to be the highest-cap Bitcoin-related NFT and the second most expensive NFT generally.

2. Runes Terminal: Runes Terminal is the first-ever Runes Protocol launchpad. It streamlines app development on the Runes Protocol, aids in token creation, offers expert guidance, and fosters connections within the Runes developer community. Products on Runes Terminal include RunesPad (a free market for all Runes innovators to launch), RunesScan (an explorer to track and monitor all Runes activities), RunesBook (a wiki-like protocol for all things Runes), and RunesEtcher (a platform to issue new Runes).

3. Runecoin: This is one of the first fungible tokens on the Runes Protocol.

4. Rune Pups: Rune Pups is a Bitcoin-based NFT collection consisting of 10,788 NFTs.

5. RunesMarketCap: Similar to token aggregators like CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap, RunesMarketCap is a platform that aggregates Runes projects and lists them according to their market cap.

6. RuneX

7. RunesAsFuck

8. Rune Guardians

9. Runes Punk

10. Rune Mania, etc.

Source: @DoggfatherCrew on X

Other Runes-based tools:

Rune Mine

RuniGun

Runes Alpha

Luminex

Rune Bitcoin

SatScreener

And many more