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Rises Near $66,000 As ‘Runes’ Launch Causes Fees to Surge From Investing.com
Investing.com– the price rose slightly on Monday, stabilizing from recent losses as the halving event, which occurred over the weekend, was largely overshadowed by the launch of a new token minting protocol on the largest blockchain in the world.
Bitcoin rose 1% over the past 24 hours to $65,917.4 as of 7:32 a.m. ET (11:32 GMT). While easing fears of conflict in the Middle East helped improve risk appetite, the token still remained squarely within a trading range established over the past month.
Bitcoin Price Stabilizes, But Transaction Fees Increase with Launch of Runes
Bitcoin’s halving event, which saw mining rewards on the blockchain halved, took place over the weekend with little price action.
But the world’s largest blockchain has seen a flurry of activity with the launch of the Runes protocol, which allows the minting of digital tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain.
The protocol was launched by Casey Rodarmor, who previously launched the Ordinal Protocol which allowed users to mint non-fungible tokens on the blockchain.
But runes differ from ordinals in that they allow users to create new tokens, similar to those seen on the blockchain.
The launch of the protocol resulted in a seven-fold increase in Bitcoin transaction fees over the weekend. According to data from Blockchain.com, transaction fees reached a record high of nearly $130 on April 20, before stabilizing at around $35 by Monday.
Bitcoin miners will benefit from the spike in fees, ignoring the halving
Bitcoin miners will benefit from the large increase in fees. The weekend spike also saw traders look beyond the halving’s impact on mining premiums.
But the halving is expected to continue to put pressure on miners in the long term.
However, mining stocks including Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:) Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MARA), Hut 8 Corp (NASDAQ:), Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:), and Core Scientific Inc (NASDAQ:CORZ) could be poised for some gains in the long term, as increased transaction fees indicate increased revenue for miners.
Cryptocurrency Price Today: Altcoins Fall as US Rate Concerns Persist
Other major crypto tokens posted limited gains on Monday, even as risk appetite improved as worries about an Iran-Israel war waned.
The strength of the dollar and the prospect of higher US interest rates for a longer period have limited any major upside in cryptocurrency prices. This notion has also kept Bitcoin prices low despite the increase in on-chain activity.
World No. 2, Ethereum rose 1.2% to $3,201.66, while gaining 0.3% and 1.3%, respectively.
Thailand Blocks ‘Unauthorized’ Crypto Platforms
Thai authorities have moved to block “unauthorized” crypto platforms, in a move to improve the effectiveness of law enforcement in fighting online crime, as per an announcement made on Friday.
Following a meeting of the Committee for the Prevention and Suppression of Technology Crimes, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been directed to provide details of unauthorized digital asset service providers to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society , which will then block access to these platforms.
According to the announcement, the SEC has considered the impact on users and will give them time to manage their accounts before they lose access to the service.
“Therefore, the SEC requires users of the said platform to promptly withdraw their assets from the platform,” the regulator said in the announcement.