Progress of BTC Ecosystem Technology: Various Scaling Solutions Compete to Emerge

Since the beginning of 2024, although the speculative enthusiasm for the BTC ecosystem has cooled somewhat, the technological advancements have been rapid, especially in the area of programmability expansion solutions. This article will introduce several notable BTC expansion solutions, including Fractal Bitcoin, AVM, OP_NET, BRC100, and programmable runes.

Fractal

Fractal is a scalable framework virtualized based on the Bitcoin Core client software, which improves the overall network performance by recursively creating a tree structure. It is fully compatible with Bitcoin and its infrastructure, but activates the op_cat operator for more logic.

Fractal is developed by the Unisat team and is expected to launch its mainnet in September 2024. Its tokenomics includes 50% from mining rewards, 15% for the ecosystem, 5% for early investor presale, 20% for advisors and core contributors, and 10% as community subsidies.

In terms of architecture design, Fractal encapsulates the bitcoin core client into a deployable blockchain software package (BCSP), running multiple instances anchored recursively on the Bitcoin mainnet. It makes some modifications to the bitcoin core, such as shortening block confirmation times and increasing block sizes, to enhance performance.

Fractal has activated the op_cat operator, providing more possibilities for scaling solutions on BTC. In terms of cross-chain assets, different instance chains can communicate, enabling seamless asset transfers. Bitcoin and assets like BRC-20 and Ordinals can enter the Fractal network through decentralized bridging.

The security of Fractal primarily relies on its hash power scale. It introduces a joint mining mechanism, where one out of every three blocks is generated through merged mining with BTC miners to prevent 51% attacks. Additionally, newly created instance chains will have special protective measures during the startup phase.

AVM

AVM(Atomicals Virtual Machine) is the BTC smart contract implementation of the Atomicals Protocol. It creates a virtual machine that simulates BTC scripts and opens up multiple raw BTC opcodes, allowing developers to implement smart contract functionalities by combining BTC scripts.

AVM achieves Turing completeness through a dual-stack PDA and runs in a sandbox, including an indexer, instruction parser, and global state. Its instruction set contains the complete BTC opcodes, allowing developers to program using the features of BTC that are not enabled.

As a framework, AVM is applicable to almost any metadata protocol with just minor adjustments to the indexer. The test version of AVM has been released, and the relevant code has been open-sourced.

OP_NET

OP_NET aims to introduce Ethereum-like smart contract functionality to the Bitcoin network, but more in line with the characteristics of Bitcoin. It provides a complete development library, primarily written in AssemblyScript, which can be compiled to WebAssembly.

OP_NET retains the block consensus and data availability of Bitcoin, executing complex calculations on Bitcoin blocks through the virtual machine (OP_VM). It supports multiple programming languages and enables advanced smart contract features using Tapscript.

When interacting with the OP_NET network, users need to pay an additional fee. To expand the application of BTC in DeFi, OP_NET provides a Proof of Authority system that allows BTC to be wrapped as WBTC.

The OP_NET ecosystem covers multiple areas including decentralized trading, lending, market making, liquidity provision, and cross-chain bridges, with several projects such as Motoswap, Stash, and Ordinal Novus.

BRC100

BRC-100 is a decentralized computing protocol built on the Ordinals theory, achieving complex DeFi functionalities by adding new operations to brc20. It provides operations such as mint2/mint3 and burn2/burn3, allowing tokens to be converted between the UTXO model and the state machine model.

The BRC-100 protocol stack includes multiple extension protocols, such as BRC-101( decentralized on-chain governance), BRC-102( automated liquidity), and BRC-104( liquidity staking/re-staking pool). These protocols are compatible with each other and support cross-chain operations.

The BRC-100 ecosystem mainly includes the inBRC( market and indexer ), 100Swap( AMM DEX), and 100Layer( liquidity protocol), among other projects.

Programmable Runes ( Protorunes )

Programmable runes are an extended layer of runes that allow the creation of programmable assets with runes. The Proto-Runes Protocol is the main project that provides a framework for programmable runes.

The Proto-Runes Protocol converts runes into programmable forms called Protorunes through the Protoburn mechanism, granting additional functionalities to the runes. Protomessage is used to execute operation instructions within the sub-protocol.

Currently, the first Protorune(QUORUM•GENESIS•PROTORUNE) has successfully completed Protoburn, demonstrating the possibility of achieving on-chain governance on Bitcoin L1.

These expansion plans inject new vitality into the BTC ecosystem, providing more possibilities. With the continuous development of technology, the application scenarios of the BTC network are expected to further expand.