Latest Developments in the BTC Ecosystem Programmability Expansion Plan

Since the first quarter of 2024, although the speculative enthusiasm in the Bitcoin ecosystem has decreased, the development on the technical level has shown an accelerated trend, especially in the area of programmability expansion solutions. This article will introduce several noteworthy BTC programmability solutions, including Fractal Bitcoin, AVM, OP_NET, BRC100, and programmable runes.

Fractal

Fractal is a scalable framework based on the virtualization of the Bitcoin Core client software, improving 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% generated from mining, 15% for the ecosystem, 5% for early investor presale, 20% for advisors and core contributors, and 10% for community subsidies.

In terms of architecture design, Fractal encapsulates the Bitcoin core client into a deployable blockchain software package, running multiple instances on the Bitcoin mainnet through recursive anchoring. 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 exploration space for more BTC scaling solutions. In terms of cross-chain asset transfer, different instance chains can communicate, enabling seamless asset transfer. Bitcoin and other assets can enter the Fractal network through decentralized bridging.

The security of Fractal mainly relies on its computing power scale. It introduces a joint mining mechanism and allows for the setting of a protection period to enhance the security of new instances.

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 multiple raw BTC opcodes, allowing developers to implement smart contracts through Bitcoin script combinations.

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

As a framework, AVM can be applied to any BTC metadata protocol, such as BRC20, ARC20, Runes, CBRC, etc., with just minor adjustments to the indexer. The AVM has released a beta version, and the relevant code can be found on GitHub.

OP_NET

OP_NET aims to introduce Ethereum-like smart contract functionality to the Bitcoin network, while being more aligned with Bitcoin's characteristics. It provides a complete development library, mainly written in AssemblyScript.

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

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

The ecological projects of OP_NET cover various fields such as decentralized trading, lending, market making, liquidity provision, and cross-chain bridges, including Motoswap, Stash, Ordinal Novus, Ichigai, SatBot, and more.

BRC100

BRC-100 is a decentralized computing protocol built on the Ordinals theory, enabling complex DeFi operations by adding new functions 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 the BRC-101( decentralized on-chain governance protocol), the BRC-102( automated liquidity protocol), and the BRC-104( liquidity staking/re-staking pool protocol). These protocols are compatible with each other and support cross-chain operations.

The main projects in the BRC-100 ecosystem include inBRC(, the first BRC-100 market and indexer ), 100Swap(, an AMM DEX) based on the BRC-102 protocol, and 100Layer(, a liquidity protocol on Bitcoin L1 ).

Programmability Runes ( Protorunes )

Programmability Runes are an extension layer of Runes that allows the creation of programmable assets with Runes. The Proto-Runes Protocol is one of the main projects, developed by the team of @judoflexchop, the founder of the oyl wallet.

The Proto-Runes Protocol converts runes into a Programmability form through the Protoburn mechanism ( Protorunes ), allowing them to be operated in sub-protocols. Protomessage is used to execute operation instructions within the sub-protocol.

The operating mechanism of the protocol is that the indexer first processes the Runestone features in the rune protocol, and then sequentially processes the messages of the sub-protocols. To avoid complexity and potential security vulnerabilities, the Proto-Runes protocol prohibits the recursive execution of prototype messages.

Recently, the first Protorune(QUORUM•GENESIS•PROTORUNE) has successfully completed Protoburn. It aims to serve as a public forum for the Protorune standard and can provide governance functions for project tokens. The development team is working on a WASM indexer for this genesis Protorune to enable on-chain governance functions on Bitcoin L1.