The market capitalization of Rune is close to one billion US dollars, but it lacks growth momentum recently.

The Rune Protocol Runes were released on 4/20 during the Bitcoin halving, and it has been a month since then. Currently, there are close to 70,000 Rune tokens in circulation with a total market value of approximately $9.2 billion. However, the market is dominated by only a few projects, with only a few leading projects like DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON having higher market values.

This article is not investment advice.

Current Status of the Rune Market

Rune Protocol Approaches $1 Billion Market Cap but Halts Growth

The Runes protocol went live on the Bitcoin network just over a month ago, and its total ecosystem market cap is currently around $9.34 billion. What does a total market cap of $9.34 billion mean? Currently, the market cap of BTC is about $1.3 trillion, ETH is around $370 billion, and BRC20 tokens are about $20 billion, indicating that the Rune market is still very small.

Interestingly, the developer of the Runes protocol, Casey, jokingly stated that if the market cap of the Rune protocol did not reach $1 billion within the first month of launch, he would commit seppuku. The highest market cap of the Rune protocol is currently around $9.986 billion, so while Casey's estimate fell just short, it was still quite accurate.

However, compared to the initial rapid rise of the Rune protocol to $9 billion within a few days of its launch, there has been no further growth in the past month. The overall market cap has not fluctuated much, indicating a lack of vitality and narrative in the market.

Rune Protocol Shows Oligopolistic Market

Looking at individual projects, the top spot is held by DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON issued by the Runestone team, with a market cap of approximately $2.57 billion, showing the effectiveness of its airdrop strategy. The second and third spots are held by PUPS•WORLD•PEACE with a market cap of $1.59 billion and RSIC•GENESIS•RUNE with a market cap of $1.58 billion, respectively.

Runestone announces airdrop of meme coin DOG, floor price drops by 60%

It is worth noting that the top three Rune project market caps account for 61% of the total market of all seventy thousand Runes, as most projects, apart from a few with market caps exceeding tens of millions, have almost no market value, demonstrating an oligopolistic market.

Lack of Growth Momentum in Runes

Most Runes are currently meme coins, so they are very dependent on the current market environment and sentiment. After the Bitcoin halving event, its ecosystem including Ordinals, BRC20, and BTC Layer also seems to have settled for a while, lacking a strong growth momentum, which appears to have also affected the development of the Rune protocol.

Recommended Read: Bitcoin Ecosystem Asset Types Summary, Plain Explanation of Technical Differences Behind ARC-20, SRC-20, etc.
Reason for Recommendation: This article covers the evolution and differences of token standards in the Bitcoin ecosystem from BRC20, ARC20, SRC20, BRC420, to RGB, since the appearance of Ordinals.

However, the advantage of memes is that a new explosion can happen at any time, and waiting for the market to drive new stories could see new Rune projects quickly rise, much like the unpredictable development path of memes in the past Ethereum and Solana ecosystems.

From a fundamental standpoint, Rune tokens may be the next focus of development in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and in the long run, their utility value is also very interesting.

Recommended Read: Franklin Rune Report: Rune Issuance to Become Standardized Token in Bitcoin Ecosystem
Reason for Recommendation: This article briefly introduces the origin and opportunities of the Rune protocol, pointing out its significance as a key token standard in the ecosystem, which could be a catalyst for issuing token assets in Bitcoin.

This article is not investment advice.