Author A Shen Research Institute
What are the cryptocurrencies of the BTC concept? Perhaps the first thing that comes to your mind is the derivative coins based on the BTC ecological fork, such as BTD (Bitcoin Diamond), BTK (Bit King), BTF (Bit Faith), etc... This statement did not count before this year. wrong. But this year, since the BTC ecosystem launched the Ordinals protocol, it is no longer accurate.
Now in the BTC ecosystem, it is possible to issue tokens based on the BRC-20 standard and NFTs based on the BRC-721 protocol.
The birth of the BRC-20 standard and the emergence of related tokens means that BTC is no longer simply regarded as "the benchmark of the Web3 world, a beautiful but outdated antique." Instead, it truly has the driving force for development and innovation. . As of now, the overall TVL of tokens issued based on the BRC-20 standard has reached approximately US$62 million.
Now that related concepts are in the ascendant, we can’t help but ask: What exactly is the BRC-20 standard? How is it different from the ERC-20 standard? How is the Ordinals protocol different from the traditional Omni protocol?
What exactly are the Ordinals protocol and the BRC-20 standard?
First, we need to review the Ordinals protocol, which was born at the beginning of this year.
Ordinals is an NFT protocol based on the BTC network that aims to assign a unique identity to each satoshis (sat). Using Ord software, the protocol adds data to these sats and allows software users to track them based on a system of ordinal numbers. In other words, the Ordinal protocol represents the smallest unit of Bitcoin, sats, in the form of NFT, and gives sats a well-reasoned transaction value and collection value. When the smallest unit becomes the new target of speculation, to a certain extent, it can be regarded as an expansion of Bitcoin.
Since the birth of the Ordinals protocol, users can engrave information on the Bitcoin chain, including text/pictures/audio/video, thereby creating NFTs on the Bitcoin chain.
For example: the NFT numbered dd082adcb3aab2882185e3a2f927bbff53cf6ffe8ab472d57740ea9f95c0acdai0 is based on the status inscription of Sats, the smallest unit of Bitcoin.
But it is worth noting: NFT can be obtained by filling different information based on sats. So when the information we fill has certain rules, or fills according to a unified standard, can we produce homogeneous tokens in the BTC ecosystem? ? The answer is yes. After community enthusiast @domodata proposed the first brc-20 standard, he also issued the first brc-20 token as an experiment, namely ORDI, with a current market value of about 25 million. The total quantity is 21 million, and the price is US$1.2 (so far, the ORDI floor price has risen to US$2.83, an increase of more than 100%). This is also regarded as the prototype of the development of BRC-20.
Therefore, now we can make a conclusion about the BRC-20 protocol: Based on the Ordinals protocol, non-fungible tokens with the same expression are engraved based on text types according to certain rules or orders. Although it is essentially an NFT, it is no different from the ERC-20 standard token in terms of expression. To a certain extent, it can be regarded as a curve to save the country.
Although DOM, the creator of the BRC-20 standard, has repeatedly emphasized that this is an experimental product, it is difficult to prevent the rise in market sentiment and the influx of funds.
According to data from Dune Analytics, Ordinals’ single-day minting volume reached 193,063 pieces on April 23, setting a record for the highest single-day minting volume to date. On April 26, the single-day minting volume reached 151,000 pieces, ranking second in terms of minting volume. High record. As of now, the total amount minted based on the Ordinals protocol has reached 2,426,808, generating a total of more than 213 BTC in fees, which is approximately $6.23 million.
According to WeChat index data, on April 28, the search index for the odri entry was 34091, an increase of 94.58% from yesterday; while the search index for the Ordinals entry was 65702, an increase of nearly 30% from yesterday.
The rising enthusiasm has brought about the implementation of demand scenarios. At present, the BTC ecosystem has produced more than 30 related applications. Here, we need to think about two questions: Why is the BRC-20 protocol so popular? And how can we get involved?
What are the advantages of BRC-20?
In sharp contrast to BRC-20, one is the currently mainstream ERC-20 protocol in the industry; the other is the traditional Omni protocol in the BTC ecosystem.
First we need to explain these two comparison targets.
ERC-20 protocol is ERC-20 is a standard for homogeneous tokens based on the ETH ecosystem. In other words, they have a property that makes each token different from another token (in type and value) Exactly the same. For example, an ERC-20 token is like Ethereum, meaning one token is and always will be like other tokens.
At present, since BRC20 itself is the characteristic of Sats inscribed information, BRC-20 itself does not have the ability to interact with smart contracts, and compared with ETH-20, BRC-20 tokens can no longer be assigned decimal points, nor can Being Burned and Locked, and also does not have functions such as approval or authorization.
These disadvantages, in turn, have become some advantages of BRC-20 tokens: the inability to interact with smart contracts means that the issuance of BRC-20 tokens will not be reserved by the so-called project parties and VCs, and it is truly human-friendly. Everyone is an equal participant in the ecosystem. Coupled with the core sats of BRC-20, it can be regarded as the smallest unit of BTC. Therefore, the natural value of BRC-20 tokens is directly filled up. Even if the narrative of individual BRC-20 projects is insufficient, it is a real transaction. The description "BTC" can also ensure that BRC-20 tokens will not have the risk of zeroing out like ERC-20 tokens and more ERC-20 side chain tokens.
Having said so much, how should we participate in the BTC ecosystem?
How to play with BRC-20?
Currently, there are many cases on the Internet about how to purchase BRC-20 tokens. vA God Research Institute will give you a summary here:
According to Xiaozhu’s rating content, users need to do the following:
If users want to purchase BRC-20 tokens:
First, you need to register a Unisat wallet and deposit enough BTC.
Then enter ordinaryswallet and link to Unisat wallet.
Enter the brc-20.io website, select the inscription you want to buy, and pay attention to the price and quantity.
After final selection, click Buy now to purchase and pay in your wallet.
User wants to sell BRC-20 tokens:
First, you need to generate a transfer inscription. You can transfer as much as you want to sell.
After it is generated, wait for confirmation on the chain. After the confirmation is successful, return to the OW wallet and drag it to the bottom to see the newly generated inscription.
Enter the price you want to sell (total price), and then place a pending order.
The above solution allows users to complete the purchase and sale of BRC-20 tokens through third-party services. If the user wants to complete it by himself through the protocol instructions, he can refer to Zhihu user Wang Feng’s explanation: The operations of brc20 are divided into Deploy, Mint and Transfer, that is, deployment, collection and transfer. For the user side, it is the casting of inscriptions. . ️️
deploy:
{
"p": "brc-20",
"on": "deploy",
"tick": "ordi",
"max": "21000000",
"lim": "1000"
}
To cast the inscription, fill in the tick field to represent the token name, max represents the supply, and lim represents the maximum amount of each transfer.
️️Receive:
{*
"p": "brc-20",
"on": "mint",
"tick": "ordi",
"amt": "1000"
}
Fill in the user name and the amount of amt to collect. amt cannot exceed the maximum limit that can be collected and the balance after deploying the inscription.
️️Transfer:
{*
"p": "brc-20",*
"on": "transfer",*
"tick": "ordi",*
"amt": "100",*
"to": "1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa"*
}*
Fill in the token number and destination address
Below, A Shen Research Institute will list some projects related to BRC-20 tokens for everyone to facilitate your participation:
1.BRC-20 project summary website: https://brc-20.io/market
2.BRC-20 wallet: https://unisat.io/
3.Ordinals native wallet: https://ordinalswallet.com/wallet
4. Trading market: https://ordswap.io/
5.Mint tool: https://looksordinal.com/
6. Browser: https://ordiscan.com/
Summarize:
Overall, BRC-20 has the following advantages:
BRC-20 tokens are more valuable and have almost no risk of zeroing out
The BRC-20 token distribution method is fairer and all participants are on the same starting line
The potential market for BRC-20 tokens is huge, a new narrative has begun, and the BTC consensus is also the strongest consensus in the market
Compared with the current ETH ecological DeFi gameplay of "new wine in old bottles", the BTC ecosystem and the BRC-20 standard are brand new concepts in the industry, and are prone to market sentiment and the influx of funds.
But the industry also has related concerns:
The threshold for user participation is high: whether it is the cumbersome node establishment or the high price of BTC, retail investors will be blocked from entering to a certain extent.
It is currently uncertain whether the Ordinals protocol is in the early stages of development or is a flash in the pan, and whether the industry will recognize BTC’s ecological expansion behavior. After all, whether it is issuing NFT based on the BTC ecosystem or BRC-20 tokens, they themselves are the use of sats, which can be viewed as It is a manual expansion behavior. Regarding the maintenance of BTC price after the expansion, different people in the industry have different opinions.
Plus, earlier this year, as the Bitcoin network’s spending on Inscriptions continued to climb. BTC ecological content has experienced serious congestion in the memory pool, which has also been criticized by the industry.
On April 11, a Github user discovered a code vulnerability in the Ordinals protocol, which prevented more than 1,200 inscriptions from being verified. The vulnerability comes from the protocol's indexer function, which only counts inscriptions in the first input of transactions submitted to and including protocol version 0.5.1. When it came to whether this error needed to be corrected by changing the inscription, 67.5% of the 1,266 voters disapproved. The young Ordinals protocol also seems to be stuck in ecological governance.
But no matter what, after making preparations and risk prevention in advance, the Ordinals protocol and the BRC-20 token are still very involved as they are the earliest stage of an emerging track and one of the hottest hot spots in the current industry. necessary.