Overview of Bitcoin Asset Issuance New Protocol

Rune Alpha

Rune Alpha has recently attracted widespread attention, mainly due to the popularity of the "rune" concept. Although the protocol refers to itself as "rune", it is actually a new inscription protocol based on the ordinals protocol version 0.11.1, which differs from the original "rune" concept proposed by Casey.

Nevertheless, Rune Alpha has successfully attracted market attention. The minting cost of its first token $cook is about a dozen dollars, and the current over-the-counter price has risen to around $400, but a formal trading market has not yet been launched.

CBRC-20

CBRC-20 is an upgraded version of BRC-20, aimed at establishing a more efficient meta-protocol standard for fungible tokens on Bitcoin. It leverages the new features introduced in Ordinals version 0.10+, reducing the cost of each inscription and simplifying the indexing process while maintaining the functional logic of BRC-20.

The main optimizations of CBRC-20 include:

1. Reduce recording costs: By simplifying the engraving process, costs are reduced by about 10 times.
2. Simplified Index: All information can be obtained directly from the inscription envelope.
3. Flexible use of MIME data: Allows the use of any MIME data to operate CBRC-20 tokens.
4. Compatible with higher versions of the Ordinals protocol: new features available from Ordinals 0.10 and above.

The CBRC-20 team has adopted innovative methods to list its tokens on trading markets, including direct listing of the inscription SWAP through RuneX and enabling trading on Unisat via a browser extension.

Recently, CBRC-20 also launched the OSMOSIS experiment, deploying the first meta-meta protocol inscription $SYMM, achieving the functionality of completing multiple meta-protocol operations simultaneously. This approach is likened to a "Trojan Horse", realizing a certain degree of "backdoor listing".

BTNS

Broadcast Token Naming System (BTNS) is an ecosystem built by early BTC holders and developer member @jdogresorg. It achieves the possibility of issuing native assets token and NFTs on BTC by transmitting additional broadcast signals on the BTC chain and 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. The main difference between BTNS and inscriptions and runes is:

1. Does not occupy or change BTC itself, more in line with the development direction of the BTC ecosystem.
2. Asset issuance based on broadcast form is more open and transparent.
3. No potential risks, fully open source and developed based on existing features of BTC.

The value of BTNS is primarily reflected in:

1. Make asset issuance on the BTC main chain possible without occupying the total BTC supply.
2. Provide a fairer way to acquire assets, such as airdrops, fair indexing, etc., to alleviate congestion issues.

Currently, the development work of BTNS is temporarily at a standstill, and the trading market has not yet been launched.

Summary

Rune Alpha and CBRC-20 are both asset issuance methods based on Ordinals, belonging to "layer two protocols". CBRC-20 is more innovative, achieving simultaneous minting of multi-protocol inscriptions. BTNS, on the other hand, falls under the category of meta-protocols, using a "broadcast" method for asset issuance, avoiding the occupation of Bitcoin. These new protocols bring new possibilities and development directions to the Bitcoin ecosystem.