Author of the article: Peng Yong Block unicorn
The expansion of the Bitcoin network has always been limited by the network itself. In addition, Bitcoin maximalists prefer that Bitcoin should remain in its original state and avoid excessive modifications to ensure the security and stability of the Bitcoin network. They will often, like Blaji, promote Bitcoin as a digital gold, emphasizing its superiority as a store of value.
A single store of value cannot meet the diverse needs of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Compared with Ethereum and other blockchains, Bitcoin does have limited capabilities in smart contracts and expansion. Although Bitcoin focuses on security and decentralization, rather than pursuing fast transaction confirmation or the flexibility of smart contracts.
But the crypto industry continues to grow, and different communities and factions have different visions and ideas for the future of Bitcoin, and are no longer limited to the ideas of Bitcoin maximalists. The more radical Bitcoinism is the opposite of Bitcoin fundamentalists. It hopes to use more possible ways to expand the ecosystem of Bitcoin so that Bitcoin can have more application scenarios and is no longer limited to this, thus creating the concept of ease of use. The Lightning Network for payments (Bitcoin’s second-layer network), and now BRC 20.
What is BRC 20?
In order to allow more people to easily understand BRC 20 and to facilitate everyone to have a deeper understanding of this field, let us discuss BRC 20 in the most popular way and lead everyone into this exciting track.
In the blockchain field, the way we usually issue tokens is to issue ERC 20 tokens through smart contracts on the Ethereum network. But in the Bitcoin network, there are no smart contracts, and tokens can only be issued through other ways. Therefore, @domo (the inventor of BRC 20) invented a protocol that can issue tokens on the Bitcoin network, called it—— BRC 20:
1 Bitcoin = 100 million Satoshi/1 Satoshi (the smallest unit of Bitcoin, 1 Satoshi/1 Satoshi, 1 Bitcoin is composed of 100 million Satoshi). Tokens issued through the BRC 20 protocol can be issued at 1 Satoshi (1 Satoshi) ) issue one token or multiple tokens, NFTs, and domain names. Below I will use popular examples and text to explain its principles.
Every time we transfer money in Bitcoin or other blockchain networks, in addition to the transfer amount, we can also fill in the remark information (just like every time you use Meituan Takeaway to place an order, there will be a remark box. In the remark box, you You can fill in the content you need).
The issuance of BRC 20 tokens is based on a similar principle. Determine the total amount, deployment, mint, and transfer of BRC 20 tokens to be issued, and enter the required information in the note box of each satoshi transferred out through the BRC 20 protocol. information as a mark.
For example, to use Unisat or OKX wallet to issue BRC 20 tokens, first set the token name, total token amount, issuance method, etc. We set the token name to AAAA, the total number of tokens to 1,000, and the issuance method is deployed. When the user comes to mint AAAA tokens, he writes in the remarks box: AAAA tokens, with a total issuance of 1,000, issued in a deployment manner. After the user completes the minting, he will get AAAA BRC 20 tokens, also called inscriptions. The identification information of these BRC 20 tokens can only be identified through the indexer. The protocols that support BRC 20 will have their own indexers.
Current BRC 20 status
On March 8 this year, anonymous developer Domo launched the BRC 20 protocol based on the Ordinals protocol. The BRC 20 experiment was first launched in the Unisat wallet, setting off a speculative boom. Various copy tokens such as PEPE and DOGE rose wildly. Investors in the crypto community rushed to FOMO for fear of missing out on 100 million.
This sentiment lasted until May, when OKX, a large institution, issued a statement that it would enter this unknown and opportunity-filled track and work with everyone to build the foundation of BRC 20. When OKX joined this track, the market suddenly cooled down and liquidity shrank. Users and builders rethought whether the prospects of this track were sustainable. BRC 20, once considered an innovation on Bitcoin, could not sustain MemeCoin for too long without any value, and it came to an end.
Those who saw the future first were not discouraged by the collapse of market speculation. They continued to build the future and waited for the wind to come.
At the end of October and November, the speculative market was still a priority, which rekindled the BRC 20 track. After several months of construction, Unisat, OKX, and Bitgate wallets or infrastructure injected new vitality into BRC 20, and users could no longer The transaction restrictions in the BRC 20 ecosystem have stimulated the enthusiasm of investors and developers, and also rekindled expectations for the future of BRC 20. The new infrastructure upgrades not only improve the performance of the BRC 20 protocol, but also introduce more practical use cases and features, gradually moving it away from the impression of being a mere speculative tool. Developers are actively exploring new projects based on BRC 20. Industry leader Unisat has launched the AMM DEX of the BRC 20 protocol, which seems to have seen the early prototype of Ethereum DEFI.
Currently, there are no other practical applications except wallet applications, indexers, and the DEX infrastructure built by Unisat. The BRC 20 token, which relies on emotional speculative fever, is still dominating the market, which is also considered to be the scene of early Ethereum ICOs throwing money.
The future of BRC 20
At the beginning, we did see emotional hype but not actual value. Speculation will not always dominate the market, but it will always exist.
From April to May, when Unisat first appeared to serve this market, the entire market was basically desolate, because users who wanted to trade BRC 20 tokens needed 20 points to buy and sell freely in the Unisat market (meaning users needed to mint/Mint more than 20 times Only then can you buy and sell freely), which restricts users transactions, and users cannot stay here for too long. On-chain products are difficult enough to use, and users in the crypto market will not tolerate products that restrict their free transactions.
It is precisely because of the lack of infrastructure in the BRC 20 market that it was unable to maintain the grand prosperity of the ecology at that time, so the market was fleeting and was questioned.
After months of setbacks and construction, BRC 20 has turned a corner and is back on its feet to prove to the market that it has not fallen. With this rise, we see that OKX wallet accounts for 70% of the BRC 20 transaction volume. There are no restrictions on user transactions and the user experience is smooth. OKX Wallet announced its participation in the BRC 20 ecosystem when it was last cooling down. It has patiently built the ecosystem, valued user experience, and achieved the best results when the market bloomed.
in conclusion
As a new wave of innovation in the Bitcoin network, BRC 20 has experienced a process of decline and rise. In the early stage, there was a lack of infrastructure support and knowledge popularization process, and many people were unable to participate in this market. With the continuous improvement of Unisat wallet, the participation of large institutions such as OKX and Bitgate has accelerated the construction of this ecosystem. We will see in the future to more practical applications - DEX/DEX aggregators, cross-chain aggregators, stablecoins, games, etc.
Finally, in this article, I did not introduce too much about the BRC 20 token and ecological projects. At this stage, MemeCoin is mainly dominating the market, and there is a lack of ecological project construction, so there are high risks. If you want to participate in this market, you can first learn how to mint tokens in Unisat and OKX wallets.
BRC 20 will continue to attract more attention and participation, witnessing its vigorous development from concept to ecosystem.
