PUPS Meme Coin Surges Amid Runes Anticipation

In the past 24 hours, the price of the BRC-20 standard meme token PUPS has soared by 56%. CoinDesk attributed this to the excitement surrounding the upcoming launch of the Runes protocol.

At the time of writing, the coin is trading at $71. Over the week, its value has increased by more than 1000%. The asset has climbed to the third position in the ranking of Bitcoin-based tokens by market capitalization, with a figure of $561 million.

According to CryptoSlam, the PUPS NFT collection has taken the lead in daily trading volume, reaching $12.8 million. Ordinals without categories fell to second place with $7.9 million, followed by NodeMonkes with $2.2 million.

Following the Bitcoin halving, the team behind PUPS plans to move the tokens to Runes. Some traders believe the protocol’s launch will trigger an altcoin boom akin to the hype around meme coins in the Solana and Base ecosystems.

Runes will be the greatest shitcoin casino ever created

On Bitcoin.

It will put every other alt-chain casino out of business

— trevor.btc (@TO) April 11, 2024

The creator of Ordinals and BRC-20, Bitcoin developer Casey Rodarmor, introduced Runes in September 2023. The protocol is expected to commence operations following the upcoming reduction in block rewards on the Bitcoin network.

In early April, the developer heightened user expectations with a tweet.

Runes were built for degens and memecoins, but the protocol is simple, efficient, and secure. It is a legitimate competitor to Taproot Assets and RGB.

The protocol is self contained and has no dependencies on ordinals or inscriptions, making it extremely simple.

Balances are…

— Casey (@rodarmor) April 1, 2024

“Runes were created for degen coins and meme tokens, but the protocol is simple, efficient, and secure. It is a full-fledged competitor to Taproot Assets and RGB,” wrote Rodarmor.

He added that the solution is fully autonomous and allows assets to be “lifted” into the L2 micropayment network Lightning Network.

“I am very skeptical of ‘serious’ tokens, but Runes is undoubtedly a ‘serious’ protocol for them,” concluded the programmer.

Analysts at Franklin Templeton have identified Runes, alongside Ordinals and BRC-20, as one of the main drivers of innovation resurgence in Bitcoin.