The Runestone, a landmark inscription on the Bitcoin blockchain notable for its size, is up for auction. Leonidas emphasizes the project’s commitment to fair distribution: “There is no team allocation, pre-sale, etc., and the open-source eligibility algorithm was designed to not favor whales.” He positions the Runestone as “a non-utility project” and collectible art, viewing it as a “badge of honor” for those who believed in the Ordinal protocol early on.
The inscription currently holds the record for the largest ordinal by block size. Bidding for the Runestone, designated as inscription 63,140,674, currently sits at 0.26 BTC, roughly equivalent to $17,261.61 on the Ord City marketplace. Importantly, all proceeds from the auction will be directed towards covering network fees associated with the upcoming Runestone airdrop and distributed to Bitcoin miners. The Runestone auction concludes on March 8, 2024, at noon EST.
This auction follows the highly anticipated Runestone airdrop, officially inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain earlier this week. This 3.97 MB inscription, encompassing two entire blocks, is one of only seven ordinals exceeding 400,000 bytes. Notably, it was created in collaboration with OrdinalsBot and Marathon Digital Holdings, who mined the record-breaking 3,991,547-byte block for its inscription.
While the exact date remains undisclosed, the upcoming Runestone airdrop will see over 112,000 eligible Bitcoin addresses receive a Runestone inscription. Additionally, a future airdrop of Runes tokens is planned upon the launch of the Runes protocol on the Bitcoin network, expected to coincide with the Bitcoin halving around April 20, 2024.