BTC Ecosystem Technology Progress: Exploration of Scaling Solutions

The Bitcoin ecosystem is experiencing rapid development at the technical level, especially in scalability solutions. This article will introduce several highly regarded BTC scaling projects, including Fractal, AVM, OP_NET, BRC100, and programmable runes.

Fractal

Fractal is a scalable framework based on the Bitcoin Core client software virtualization that 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, developed by the Unisat team, is expected to launch its mainnet in September 2024. Its tokenomics distribution plan is as follows: 50% for mining rewards, 15% for the ecosystem, 5% for early investor presale, 20% for advisors and core contributors, and 10% for establishing partnerships and liquidity.

In terms of architecture design, Fractal encapsulates the Bitcoin core client into a deployable and runnable blockchain software package, allowing multiple instances to run independently on the Bitcoin mainnet through recursive anchoring. It makes some modifications to the Bitcoin core, such as shortening the block confirmation time to 30 seconds and increasing the block size to 20MB.

Fractal has activated the op_cat operator, providing more exploration space for the BTC scaling solution. Different instance chains can communicate, enabling seamless asset transfers. Bitcoin and assets like BRC-20 and Ordinals can be used on Fractal through decentralized bridging.

AVM

AVM(Atomicals Virtual Machine) is the BTC smart contract implementation of the Atomicals Protocol. It creates a virtual machine that simulates BTC scripts, opening multiple raw BTC opcodes, allowing developers to implement smart contracts through Bitcoin script combinations.

The AVM virtual machine achieves Turing completeness through a dual-stack PDA, running in a sandbox that includes an indexer, instruction parser, and global state. Its instruction set contains the complete BTC opcode, allowing programming using the unused features of BTC.

AVM is an architecture that can be applied to various metadata protocols such as BRC20, ARC20, Runes, and CBRC, with only minor adjustments needed for the indexer under the virtual machine. The test version of AVM has been released.

OP_NET

OP_NET aims to introduce Ethereum-like smart contract functionality to the Bitcoin network, but in a way that is more aligned with the characteristics of Bitcoin. It provides a complete and compact development library, primarily written in AssemblyScript, which simplifies the creation and operation of Bitcoin-related technologies.

OP_NET retains the block consensus and data availability of Bitcoin, executing complex computations on Bitcoin blocks through the OP_VM virtual machine. It supports multiple programming languages and utilizes Tapscript to enable advanced smart contract functionalities.

When interacting on the OP_NET network, users are required to pay an additional fee of at least 330 Satoshis. 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, involving projects such as Motoswap, Stash, Ordinal Novus, and Ichigai.

BRC100

BRC-100 is a decentralized computing protocol built on the Ordinals theory, implementing complex DeFi functions through the addition of operations such as "burn" and "mint". It provides operations like 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:

• BRC-101: Decentralized On-Chain Governance Protocol
• BRC-102: Automated Liquidity Protocol
• BRC-104: Liquidity Staking / Re-Staking Pool Protocol

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

Programmable Runes ( Protorunes )

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

The core mechanism of Proto-Runes Protocol includes:

• Protoburn: Destroy the rune and convert it into a form usable by the sub-protocol.
• Protomessage: Execute operation instructions in the sub-protocol

The protocol has implemented DEX functions similar to Uniswap, supporting atomic swaps of rune assets and the creation of liquidity pools.

Recently, the first Protorune ( QUORUM•GENESIS•PROTORUNE ) has successfully completed Protoburn, demonstrating the functional model of on-chain governance implemented on Bitcoin L1.