Bitcoin's Emerging Asset Issuance Protocol

Rune Alpha

Rune Alpha has recently gained popularity, primarily due to the widespread discussion of the "rune" concept. The "rune" was initially proposed by Casey, and it gained attention again due to BTC Core developer Luke's opposition to "inscriptions". The main difference between "runes" and "inscriptions" lies in their storage locations: "runes" are stored in UTXO, while "inscriptions" like BRC-20, based on Ordinals, are stored in the segregated witness data of Bitcoin scripts.

However, although Rune Alpha claims to be "rune", according to its white paper, it is actually a new inscription protocol based on the ordinals protocol version 0.11.1, which is different from the "rune" concept proposed by Casey. Nevertheless, Rune Alpha has successfully attracted widespread attention. The initial token of the protocol, $cook, has a minting cost of about a dozen dollars, and the current over-the-counter price has risen to around 400 dollars, but a formal trading market has not yet been launched.

CBRC-20

CBRC-20 is an efficient meta-protocol standard proposal for fungible tokens on Bitcoin, utilizing new features introduced in ord version 0.10+. Compared to BRC-20, CBRC-20 implements several optimizations:

1. Reduce recording costs: Deploying, minting, or transferring CBRC-20 tokens only requires inscribing the number "0", reducing costs by about 10 times.

2. Simplified indexing: All information is stored directly in the inscription envelope, making it easy to index.

3. MIME Data Flexibility: Allows the use of any MIME data for token operations.

4. Compatible with higher versions of the Ordinals protocol: Can utilize new features of Ordinals 0.10 and above.

The CBRC-20 team has adopted various strategies to list the token on trading markets, including launching the inscription SWAP on RuneX and using Greasemonkey scripts to force the listing on Unisat. The community has also spontaneously developed a trading market for CBRC-20 tokens.

Recently, the founder of CBRC-20 launched the OSMOSIS experiment and deployed the first meta-meta protocol inscription $SYMM. This approach allows for simultaneous operations of multiple meta protocols, achieving a "backdoor listing" effect.

BTNS

The Broadcast Token Naming System (BTNS) is an ecosystem built by early BTC holders and developer member @jdogresorg. BTNS achieves the issuance of BTC native asset tokens and NFTs by transmitting additional broadcast signals on the BTC chain, using blockchain records as data basis.

BTNS-420 is a token protocol standard built on BTNS, integrating various ecological features such as asset issuance and transfer. Compared to inscriptions and runes, BTNS has the following characteristics:

1. Does not occupy BTC resources, more in line with the BTC ecological concept.
2. Based on the form of broadcasting, it is more open and fair.
3. Completely open source, no potential risks.
4. May transform BTC into a complete ecological chain.
5. Provide a more equitable way to acquire assets, such as airdrops, fair indexes, etc.

Currently, the development work of BTNS is temporarily stalled, and the market development progress has also been affected.

Summary

Rune Alpha and CBRC-20 are both asset issuance methods based on Ordinals and belong to the "second layer protocol". CBRC-20 excels in innovation, achieving the simultaneous minting of multi-protocol inscriptions. BTNS, on the other hand, falls under the category of meta-protocols and implements asset issuance in a "broadcast" manner, avoiding direct occupation of Bitcoin. These emerging protocols bring more possibilities and innovative space to the Bitcoin ecosystem.