Bitcoin Ecosystem and Inscription Craze: The Innovative Path of Established Projects

The rapid growth of Bitcoin and the booming development of the inscription ecosystem have become the main focus in the cryptocurrency field this year. The rise in Bitcoin prices is attributed to multiple factors, including the prosperity of the ecosystem, expectations of a spot ETF, the upcoming halving event, and the anticipation of potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. At the same time, the large-scale entry of institutional investors has also provided strong momentum for it.

The inscription ecosystem, especially represented by Ordinals, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and fungible tokens (FTs), has not only brought new vitality to Bitcoin but has also influenced other public chains. Almost all major public chains have developed their own inscription gameplay, and many existing projects have also seized this opportunity to rejuvenate.

Bounce: Bitcoin Ecological Project Auction and Layer 2 Plan

Bounce Finance, as an Auction as a Service (AaaS) protocol, provides comprehensive token issuance services for projects. The platform supports multiple blockchain networks, enabling users to create and participate in various types of auctions, including tokens, NFTs, physical collectibles, and advertising spaces.

Recently, Bounce launched several auctions for Bitcoin ecosystem projects. These projects have a low initial valuation, and in subsequent auctions, tokens from previous projects can be used as participation tools, resulting in good performance. Bounce's native token AUCTION plays an important role in the auctions, which has also led to an increase in its price.

Taking the recent GoDID project auction as an example, GoDID is a decentralized identity (DID) marketplace aggregator that provides services for ENS, Space ID, and Bitcoin Ordinals DID. Its token distribution plan includes: 20% to users who purchase lottery tickets using AUCTION, 40% to AUCTION stakers, 20% to stakers of the stablecoin DAII issued by the early project BitStable, and 5% to users participating in airdrop mining using MUBI, BSSB, AUCTION, and WBTC.

In addition, Bounce also announced the BounceBit plan, which is a blockchain solution specifically designed for the Bitcoin ecosystem, based on Binance Bitcoin BTCB and AUCTION, scheduled to launch in 2024.

Uniswap Expands to Rootstock

As a leading decentralized exchange (DEX), Uniswap continues to launch new versions and expand to multiple blockchain networks.

Recently, GFX Labs utilized Oku to deploy Uniswap V3 on the Bitcoin sidechain Rootstock, marking Uniswap's expansion into the Bitcoin ecosystem. GFX Labs received funding from the Uniswap Foundation to develop the trading front-end Oku based on Uniswap V3. Oku features an order book, price charts, trading records, limit orders, and more.

Rootstock (RSK) is a sidechain compatible with the Bitcoin network that supports the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), ensuring security through merged mining with Bitcoin. RSK introduces a joint guarantor model, where trusted entities in the community are responsible for managing the asset transfers between Bitcoin and RSK, providing additional security assurances.

As of December 19, the liquidity on the Oku platform reached $535,000.

NFT Market Magic Eden Expands Bitcoin Ecosystem

Magic Eden, as a major NFT marketplace in the Solana ecosystem, is known for its user-friendly interface, low transaction fees, and high-speed transactions, providing a convenient trading platform for artists, collectors, and NFT enthusiasts.

In March of this year, with the rise of Ordinals NFTs, Magic Eden announced its entry into the Bitcoin ecosystem, marking an important step in its multi-chain strategy. Currently, NFTs like bitmap and Bitcoin Frogs have high trading volumes on Magic Eden.

Nostr: Combining Decentralized Social and Micropayments

Nostr is a decentralized social protocol, supported by one of the co-founders of Twitter. It aims to establish a global, decentralized, censorship-resistant communication network.

In September this year, Nostr underwent the NIP-57 upgrade, adding a small payment feature called "Zaps." This enables users to make small tips or payments through the Nostr client, primarily facilitated by the Lightning Network, making the process efficient and cost-effective.

The operation process of Zaps includes: users initiating requests, LNURL servers confirming the recipient's public key, creating Zap requests, providing invoices, and completing payments. Currently, the number of Zap payments has exceeded 50,000.

ALEX: B20 Exchange and Bitcoin Oracle

ALEX was originally a DeFi platform on Stacks, offering features such as DEX, Launchpad, cross-chain bridges, staking, mining, and lotteries. With the popularity of inscriptions, ALEX developed B20, a decentralized exchange specifically for trading BRC20 tokens.

In addition, ALEX is developing the first Bitcoin oracle for BRC20 tokens. This work is being carried out in collaboration with the creators of BRC20 and multiple key off-chain indexers, aiming to leverage the programmability of Stacks to lead the decentralized consensus of BRC20 indexing.

The Development of the Inscription Ecosystem of Various Public Chains

Inscription technology has expanded to multiple public chains, including Ethereum's ETHS, Solana's SOLS, Avalanche's AVAV, and others. Some networks even experienced brief outages during the minting of inscriptions.

The Ethscriptions project on Ethereum demonstrates the application of inscriptions on smart contract chains. Ethscriptions may reduce transaction costs by using calldata and avoiding traditional smart contract storage and execution. However, this approach may introduce new security issues and limit the practicality in certain applications.

Summary

In the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem, various projects have shown a spirit of innovation: Bounce has created significant economic benefits through a unique auction model and plans to develop Bitcoin Layer 2; Nostr has realized the combination of decentralized social networking and micropayments; ALEX has developed a BRC20 trading market and is committed to launching the first decentralized Bitcoin oracle; Uniswap and Magic Eden have expanded their business into the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Inscription technology has been successfully applied to several major public blockchains. For non-smart contract chains like Bitcoin, the importance of inscriptions is even more pronounced. On smart contract platforms like Ethereum, while inscriptions may reduce certain costs, they also bring new security challenges, and their functionality may be limited compared to traditional smart contracts.