Bitcoin Token Runecoin Hits All-Time High Price Ahead of OKX Listing

Runecoin, a token etched using the new Bitcoin Runes protocol and associated with the prominent RSIC Metaprotocol Ordinals collection, hit a new all-time high price overnight after cryptocurrency exchange OKX announced plans to list the token.

OKX will list Runecoin on Tuesday, April 30, following a 24-hour rewards campaign that lets customers earn a share of tokens by staking their Bitcoin (BTC) on the exchange’s platform. Runecoin will be the first Runes token listed by the centralized exchange, though OKX’s peer-to-peer “Web3 marketplace” already supports Runes token trades.

Following the announcement, the price of Runecoin jumped to a new all-time high price of 29 satoshis, or just under $0.02 per token. The sizable supply of 21 billion tokens puts the Runecoin market cap at $316 million at the current price of 24 satoshis, down from the overnight peak. It’s the most-traded Runes token over the last 24 hours, according to both OKX and Magic Eden.

OKX is putting up 1.75% of the total supply, or 367,500,000 tokens, for the daylong rewards campaign, letting OKX customers earn a share of the token before trading begins on the exchange on Tuesday. The OKX “Jumpstart” campaign is similar to Binance’s “Launchpool,” helping expose new coins to crypto traders while providing benefits to exchange users.

The Bitcoin Runes protocol launched on April 19 alongside the latest Bitcoin halving, the quadrennial event that cuts the amount of BTC earned by miners in half.

The Runes protocol, which enables the creation of fungible tokens (often “meme coins”) on the Bitcoin blockchain, was created by Ordinals protocol inventor Casey Rodarmor. Many tokens have already been launched on Bitcoin via the experimental BRC-20 protocol, which was built on top of Ordinals last year, but Runes is said to be a more efficient implementation.

Centralized exchanges—which typically require identifying information from users, unlike a decentralized exchange (DEX)—have been quick to embrace the new protocol. Gate.io listed a few of the prominent Runes tokens within the first couple days after the launch, and now OKX is about to list its first with Runecoin.

“This is a monumental achievement, marking the first listing of a Bitcoin Rune on a leading exchange. This huge step aligns with Runecoin’s mission to bootstrap adoption, education and innovation of Ordinals, Runes, and Bitcoin,” the project wrote on Twitter (aka X). “This is not just a milestone for our community but a significant step forward for the entire Runes ecosystem.”

RSIC Metaprotocol is a collection of 21,000 NFT-like Ordinals inscriptions that were airdropped for free to the wallets of various Ordinals collectors in January.

The mysterious project was said to be part of a game where holders could choose to mine tokens, and that ultimately led to the launch of Runecoin, one of the first 10 tokens etched via the Runes protocol. Runecoin tokens were then airdropped to RSIC holders last week following the token’s launch.