A fresh surge in Runes protocol activity is pushing Bitcoin transaction volumes and fee generation to multi-year highs.

Even though Bitcoin remains in a prolonged bear market, on-chain activity has continued to pick up momentum.

Data from Glassnode shows daily Bitcoin transactions recently exceeded 820,000, while BTC trades near $62,000—about 50% below its all-time high reached in October. This stands out because network usage typically weakens during extended price declines.

The latest reading marks the highest level of transactions since April 23, 2024, shortly after the previous halving and the rollout of the Runes protocol, a fungible token standard on Bitcoin that previously triggered a sharp rise in fees.

Similar in concept to Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, Runes allows users to create and transfer fungible tokens directly on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Activity tied to Runes is once again accelerating network usage, with “Runestone” transactions climbing above 600,000 per day—also a two-year high, according to Glassnode.

This renewed demand is also reshaping Bitcoin’s fee structure. Runes-related activity now accounts for around 25% of total transaction fees, reaching multi-year highs and signaling that block space demand is increasingly driven by applications beyond simple BTC transfers.

While Bitcoin has long faced criticism for limited on-chain utility and reliance on speculative trading, the recent spike suggests the network is still seeing substantial real usage even amid a prolonged market downturn.