A Bitcoin metaprotocol similar to Ordinals accounted for most Bitcoin transactions over a 90-day period ending in September, according to data published by SUBFROST, which maintains the protocol.
Between June 23 and September 20, Alkanes transactions comprised 61.1% of all Bitcoin transactions, covering approximately 59.9 million transactions across blocks 954,917 through 967,918. During the same window, Alkanes used 40.3% of block space by weight, 94.2% of OP_RETURN bytes, and 13.4% of transaction-fee revenue, SUBFROST reported.
Protocol Design and User Base
Alkanes is a Bitcoin metaprotocol built on top of the Runes protocol. It is maintained by SUBFROST, a U.S.-facing company led by co-founder Gabe Lee alongside the original protocol author known as RWP IV. The Alkanes community consists almost entirely of users from the Asia Pacific region, with significant activity originating from Chinese-speaking markets.
SUBFROST provides full Chinese documentation, maintains a Chinese metrics page, and operates an official Chinese-language Telegram channel. In 2025, Chinese media outlets noted that most Alkanes discussion on X came from Chinese-speaking users, many referencing the popular Hong Kong wallet UniSat. SUBFROST held a workshop in China, placed Lee and RWP IV on a China stage, and exhibited at Bitcoin Asia in Hong Kong.
Technical Characteristics
Alkanes does not modify Bitcoin consensus rules and does not operate as a sidechain. Contract code is written in WebAssembly and deployed once in witness data. Subsequent users send function calls embedded in a Runes-format runestone. A separate indexer called Metashrew executes these calls, while full nodes confirm the Bitcoin transaction without validating Alkanes balances.
SUBFROST tracks activity through a daily file published under an MIT license, with live charts available at subfrost.io/metrics and underlying data on GitHub. The company classifies a transaction as Alkanes when an OP_RETURN runestone contains a protostone with protocol tag 1.
Primary Activity
According to SUBFROST, 99.7% of UNCOMMON•GOODS Runes mints during the measured period were also DIESEL mints, the emission function on Alkanes' genesis contract. The company noted in a July explainer that almost all Alkanes activity during this window was attributable to a single operation: the DIESEL mint.
Alkanes launched at block 880,000 on January 20, 2025, when the DIESEL contract was deployed. It was built at Oyl Corp. In January 2026, Oyl announced it was winding down operations and that SUBFROST would lead protocol maintenance going forward.
