As it prepares for an upcoming Bitcoin Runes airdrop for holders, longtime Ethereum NFT project CyberKongz is gearing up to reward its Prometheans Ordinals holders—while also aiming to attract and onboard a new audience from ETH to Bitcoin. 

Launched ahead of the Runes token protocol, CyberKongz’ recent Ordinals collection has generated ample hype ahead of the promised token drop to holders. And this week’s launch of the Runes token DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON suggests a potential trajectory for the rollout.

Holders of Runestone Ordinals assets received an airdrop of the Runes meme coin DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON on Wednesday. DOG quickly notched nearly twice the volume of all other Bitcoin Runes combined, with the rise benefitting holders in the process. CyberKongz holders are undoubtedly hoping for a similar outcome.

“I like to think of us as chain-agnostic,” pseudonymous CyberKongz founding member Henry the Grape told Decrypt. “We knew it was going to be a mad rush, but we wanted to get an early Rune that aligned with provenance and culture.”

The team set its sights on securing one of the first 10 Runes etchings following the Bitcoin halving last Friday. With 8 BTC (over $500,000) in a wallet, CyberKongz aimed to etch the Runes token on block 840,000 immediately after the halving, aware of the significance of the moment for the project's provenance. To their surprise, the team clinched the #2 Runes etching.

“We were thinking more like a degen and less about the dollar and cents,” Henry the Grape said of the effort and expense. “We asked ourselves, ‘How does this feel? What is cool for the space?’”

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If you're active on Crypto Twitter, then you are well aware that the Bitcoin halving wasn't the only significant event making waves in the space in the past week. Bitcoin Runes were introduced at block 840,000, coinciding with the halving. Runes, a new fungible token protocol by Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor, are best described as “meme coins” on Bitcoin. While the long-term impact of the protocol will play out over time, it's undeniable that Runes have captured significant attention right out...

When brainstorming potential names, he said that they were determined to select one that encapsulated both the essence of Web3 and the history of CyberKongz. They settled on the name “⚡️DECENTRALIZED”—yes, with the emoji included.

Most early Runes names are lengthy and odd, thanks to protocol restrictions, but CyberKongz aimed to keep things simple. Well, aside from that lightning bolt emoji.

“It’s the only single word in the top 40 [Runes],” Henry the Grape said. “We were early on ETH, it was very fitting for who we are as a project.”

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Why Are Bitcoin Rune Names So Weird? There's a Method to the Madness

The Bitcoin halving has come and gone, and along with the milestone, the new Runes token protocol went live on the Bitcoin network. Since its launch on April 20, the Runes protocol has seen over eight thousand “etchings”—the preferred term for the deployment of Runes tokens—created on the Bitcoin blockchain, according to Ordinals and Runes launchpad Luminex. One trend that quickly emerged among these new digital assets was long and unusually formatted names. A quick browse of the nascent categor...

The team shared its Runes airdrop allocation exclusively with Decrypt. With a total supply of 21 billion tokens, 91% will go to Prometheans holders, while 4.5% of the supply will be distributed across 20 leading Ordinals communities. The remaining 4.5% will go to launch contributors.

The snapshot of Prometheans holders will take place at block 841,269, estimated for Sunday afternoon (UTC). Of the 21,000 Prometheans assets launched earlier this month, more than 18,000 were distributed to Ordinals communities.

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Bitcoin Meme Coin DOG Hits $336 Million Market Cap After Runes Airdrop

DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON (aka DOG), a Bitcoin meme coin etched via the new Runes protocol, was airdropped to holders of the Runestone Ordinals project on Wednesday, immediately vaulting the newly created coin to the title of the most widely held Runes token to date. Holders of DOG surpassed 74,000 on Wednesday, according to data from minting and etching platform Luminex. It’s by far the Runes token with the most holders since the launch of the Runes protocol last week. Next on the list is RSIC•GENESIS...

“We chose communities that aligned with the values of CyberKongz and specifically the narrative of ⚡️DECENTRALIZED, which is provenance and culture,” said Henry the Grape.

“We used a weighted script called the Diamond Hand Script. So we snapshotted holders across various communities and based the airdrop on holding time,” he added. “It went to the 1,000 wallets that held the longest to reward people who took an early bet on Ordinals.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward