Tokens go home

Bitcoin Runes.

Fungible tokens, born on bitcoin: Runes launched at the 2024 halving and gave tokens a native home on the world's most secure chain. Here is how the protocol works and where it fits.

Reviewed and current as of September 13, 2026

01Tokens come to bitcoin

For years, creating tokens meant leaving bitcoin for other chains. Ordinals cracked the door open by inscribing data onto individual satoshis, and Casey Rodarmor, the creator of Ordinals, decided tokens deserved a proper home on bitcoin too. Runes launched at the April 2024 halving.

The timing was deliberate: the most festive moment in bitcoin's calendar became the birthday of its native token protocol. Builders had been waiting, and the launch instantly became one of the busiest fee events in bitcoin's history.

02How Runes work

Runes uses bitcoin's UTXO model, the same system that tracks your coins as unspent outputs. Token balances live inside UTXOs, transfers happen in ordinary bitcoin transactions, and the protocol stays lean by design. No extra tokens clogging the chain, no complex new machinery.

Creating a Rune is called etching. You inscribe the token's name, supply and rules, and from then on it moves like bitcoin itself: simple, durable, and secured by the strongest network in crypto.

03Runes, Ordinals and BRC-20

Ordinals inscribe data onto satoshis, making each one unique: the foundation of bitcoin NFTs and digital artifacts. BRC-20 was an earlier token experiment built on Ordinals inscriptions, clever but wasteful, creating piles of junk outputs.

Runes learned from both. It keeps the UTXO native efficiency bitcoiners love while giving tokens a clean, purpose built standard. Think of Ordinals as the art gallery, BRC-20 as the rough draft, and Runes as the finished token press.

04The launch and the fee frenzy

Runes debuted in the most dramatic way possible: transaction fees spiked past $100 as degens raced to etch the first tokens in the halving block. Miners celebrated a record payday, and the fee market gave everyone a vivid demo of bitcoin's security budget in action.

The frenzy cooled, as frenzies do, and building began in earnest. Wallets added support, marketplaces listed Runes, and the protocol settled into its real job: giving tokens a home on the world's most secure chain.

05Where Runes fit

Runes completes a picture: bitcoin for money, Ordinals for artifacts, Runes for tokens. Each layer uses the base chain's security without asking it to change. The conservative foundation stays untouched while the fun happens above.

Explore the family: the Ordinals Guide covers bitcoin's art layer, the Bitcoin Layer 2 Guide maps the scaling stack, and the What Is Bitcoin guide explains the UTXOs it all rests on.