After Casey Rodarmor, the founder of Ordinals, proposed the Rune protocol, there have been imitations appearing. This article will explore how Runes should face the challenges of imitations and why it has been successful.
Table of Contents:
The Controversy between Real and Fake Runes
1.1 The Origin of Runes
1.2 The “Fresh” Design of the Rune Protocol
1.3 Rune Imitation – Rune Alpha
2. Voices from the Community
Embracing Enthusiasm
Opposing Resistance
Neutral Observation
Conclusion
Since Rune was proposed by Casey, the founder of Ordinals, it has attracted wide attention in the Bitcoin community, despite facing challenges from imitation projects like Rune Alpha. It has demonstrated its technical potential and prospects for application.
Casey stated that although he is skeptical about establishing alternative token protocols on the Bitcoin network, due to its current popularity and the advantages of generating significant transaction fee revenue for Bitcoin, attracting developer attention, and user adoption, he attempted to create a simpler and more efficient alternative token protocol. This protocol promises to optimize token operations in the Bitcoin ecosystem through a simplified UTXO model and an efficient token transfer mechanism.
The Rune protocol supports token issuance, allowing the creation of any number of tokens and setting human-readable symbols and decimal places. Its transmission mechanism is based on tuples of integer sequences, involving token ID, output index, and allocation amount.
Features of the Rune Protocol:
During registration, divisibility (equivalent to decimal), supply, symbol (supporting only one Unicode character of a specific length), and rune name can be specified.
The name characters must be uppercase letters with variable lengths, gradually allowing shorter length names to be registered as block height increases.
Names cannot be duplicated and have a unique number starting from 0 according to the deployment order, as well as a unique ID encoded based on height and deployment order at the current height. For example, 173940/256 represents the 256th rune deployed at height 173940.
The names can be added with “・” as a name display delimiter, which only affects the name display but not the registration. For example, if “CASEY・RUNES・EVERYTHING” is registered, “CASEYRUNES・EVERYTHING” or “CASEYRUNESEVERYTHING” cannot be registered again.
Distribution mechanism is pending: According to the current code, all supply will be sent to the registrant’s wallet address during registration, but there may be changes in the future.
Advantages of Runes over the BRC-20 Protocol:
Based on the UTXO model, the Rune protocol adopts a system that is more consistent with the native architecture of Bitcoin. It avoids the reliance on off-chain data and the need for native tokens, providing a smoother user experience.
Token transfer in Runes is implemented through the OP_RETURN script, making token distribution and transfer more efficient.
The issuance of Runes is defined through specific message formats, making the flow and distribution of tokens more transparent and clear.
Higher efficiency: The Rune protocol solves the problems of UTXO diffusion and inefficiency in the BRC-20 protocol. It simplifies the operation process, and registration and transfers only require one transaction, thereby improving overall efficiency.
Reduced on-chain footprint: Runes aims to minimize its on-chain footprint, reducing the generation of bad UTXOs.
Compatibility with Lightning Network: Runes is compatible with the Lightning Network, providing new use cases and possibilities for developers and users.
Destruction mechanism: Runes contained in transactions with invalid protocol information will be destroyed.
Due to its theoretical orthodoxy and advancement, the Rune protocol has attracted widespread attention in the Bitcoin community. However, its slow development progress has provided opportunities for imitations to mimic its concept and profit from it.
Runes Deployer by Ordinals Wallet
On the second day after Casey released the concept of the Rune protocol, Ordinals Wallet quickly started deploying “Runes” and launched promotions in the community, social media, and media. Although Ordinals Wallet seized the first wave of traffic for Runes’ concept, progress stagnated and everything came to a halt.
Rune Alpha
On December 5th, the Bitcoin network’s runic project, Rune Alpha, was officially launched, with its first token issued on the mainnet being $COOK. According to Rune Alpha officials, they have had technical exchanges with Casey, and Rune Alpha is built on the ord 0.11.1 foundation and written into the Ordinals repository.
Part of the users in the Bitcoin community who have been eagerly awaiting the Rune protocol mistakenly believed that this project, Rune Alpha, was the Rune protocol proposed by Casey, and they rushed to participate in minting under the influence of the FOMO sentiment in the market. On December 6th, Casey released a tweet stating that he has no association with any Rune-related protocols or services, and when the official Rune protocol is launched, he will not trace and identify these imitations. At the same time, some users reported issues such as asset transfers and tokens being used as gas burns during the interaction, and Rune Alpha responded that it was due to user mishandling, and “warnings have been issued to users in the Discord community.”
Although Rune Alpha can no longer continue marketing with the narrative of “legitimacy,” the market’s FOMO and speculative sentiment still prevail. The unique feature of Rune Alpha’s token minting is “time-limited and unlimited”: users can mint within 150 blocks between 819863 and 820013, with each minting allowing up to 1000 tokens, and there is no limit on the total supply. According to dune board data, as of now (12.22 20:50), $COOK has been fully minted in the 150 blocks, with a total of 199,153 tokens minted and 10,481 holders.
Following the official launch of the Rune protocol on the Bitcoin testnet signet by Casey, Rune Alpha quickly responded by deploying tokens on the signet and attempted to demonstrate that Rune Alpha can be identified and indexed by the official Rune protocol of the new version, ord 0.13.1, through screen recording operations, data analysis, and other evidence. At the same time, Rune Alpha responded to the community’s call and is actively building its Marketplace.
However, according to the current code, the mainnet of the official Rune protocol will start indexing from the block height at the time of Bitcoin halving and will only index tokens issued after the halving height that comply with the Rune protocol standard.
1. Ordinals Official Community Ordicord https://discord.com/invite/ordinals
Since late September, discussions about Runes in the community have been increasing.
Starting from November, there has been a large number of discussions about the technical implementation of Runes and imitations in the community. Users in the Ordinals ecosystem generally hold optimistic attitudes, considering Runes as an upgraded version based on the Ordinals protocol, and they have high expectations for the technical progress of the official team.
On December 16th, after the roadshow of Runes at the Taipei Blockchain Week, a new wave of discussions emerged in the community. Users began to pay attention to the imitation project Rune Alpha and had doubts about whether the first token deployed based on this protocol, Cook, could reflect in the official Rune protocol.
Users started actively experiencing the Rune protocol on the Bitcoin testnet signet, and community administrators actively assisted users in resolving issues.
Based on the conversations in the community, it is known that the current indexing of Runes and Ordinals on the signet is incompatible. After the official deployment of Runes on the Bitcoin mainnet, users will need to rebuild a unified index.
Compared to the descriptions used in previous protocols such as “inscription” and “inscribe,” the Rune protocol uses new terms like “rune” and “etch.” The subtle changes in descriptive language also reflect the higher precision and lighter weight of the Rune protocol.
2. OrdinalHub
https://discord.com/invite/ordinalhub
Users in the OrdinalHub community also have high recognition and expectations for Runes. They want to actively contribute but feel helpless due to the slow development progress and lack of information.
3. sating.io
https://discord.com/invite/kcwE9jH67n
UniSat Community
https://discord.com/invite/unisat
The UniSat official team expressed great interest in Runes and will keep an eye on the progress of the protocol. They are well-prepared to provide technical support.
Subsequently, UniSat added the Runes module, and the BRC-20 protocol added the token $rune.
In the UniSat community, some individual users related to the BRC-20 ecosystem showed tendencies of taking sides: “BRC-20 > Runes.” BRC-20 “die-hard fans” who are concerned about their own interests strongly support the BRC-20 protocol, claiming that it is the most orthodox, decentralized, fair, and irreplaceable protocol. They also purchased BRC-20 protocol token $rune to express their resistance to the Runes protocol led by Casey. (Official UniSat personnel responded to this statement with a “like” gesture) At the same time, they questioned whether Casey has been “denigrating” the BRC-20 protocol because he wants to develop a new protocol himself.
1. ordinex
https://t.me/ordinex
At the end of October, the community manager of ordinex stated that ordinex started paying attention to Runes. In theory, the Rune protocol is superior to the BRC-20 protocol as a homogeneous token protocol. However, they remain cautious and believe that ordinary users are not particularly interested in the technical logic behind a protocol. Therefore, for competition between different protocols, widespread market adoption is the key to success.
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2023.10.23
2. Leather
https://discord.com/invite/67cZyTz8w6
The developers of the Leather wallet have added basic support for Runes in their GitHub:
https://github.com/leather-wallet/extension/issues/4273
3. Trac
https://discord.com/invite/trac
They have a positive view that Runes is superior to the BRC-20 protocol:
According to the incomplete Runes code, its mechanism is not a “fair mint” at present. During registration, all supply will be sent to the registrant’s wallet address, and future changes are unclear. This is one of the reasons why some supporters of the BRC-20 protocol criticize Runes. Some users in the Trac community believe that the Pipe protocol combines the advantages of the BRC-20 and Runes protocols.
1. The Innovativeness and Application Value of the Rune Protocol:
The Rune protocol demonstrates the possibility of implementing token functionality in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Its simplified UTXO model and efficient token transfer mechanism bring new momentum and extension capabilities to the Bitcoin network. This marks a significant extension of Bitcoin’s functionality, adding new application layers while maintaining its original characteristics.
2. Comparison between the Rune and BRC-20 Protocols:
In terms of efficiency and user experience, the Rune protocol has significant advantages over the BRC-20 protocol. Based on the UTXO model, Runes avoids off-chain data reliance and the need for native tokens, providing a smoother user experience. Additionally, the issuance mechanism and transparency in token transfer processes in Runes provide users with a clearer and safer operating environment.
3. Community Response and Acceptance:
The Rune protocol has attracted widespread attention in the Bitcoin community. Despite its relatively slow development progress, the community maintains an optimistic attitude towards its technical potential and prospects for application. At the same time, the community has shown different reactions to imitation projects like Rune Alpha, reflecting the complex interests and diverse perspectives within the cryptocurrency field.
4. Future Prospects and Challenges:
The main challenge for the Rune protocol is how to further enhance its feasibility and acceptance in practical applications while maintaining its core advantages. Additionally, competition with other protocols and the market’s adaptability to new technologies are also important factors in its future development.
In conclusion, the Rune protocol, as an innovative attempt on the Bitcoin network, demonstrates its potential in optimizing token operations. Although it faces challenges from the community, the market, and technical aspects, the emergence of Runes undoubtedly injects new vitality and possibilities into the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem. In the future, with the maturity of the technology and further market recognition, Runes is expected to play a more important role in the cryptocurrency field.