Ever pondered if {Bitcoin \Bitcoin\} and its underlying blockchain technology could develop further? The creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, Casey Rodarmor, gives us reason to think so. He is now proposing a new Bitcoin-based fungible token protocol, ‘Runes’, as an alternative to the BRC-20 token standard.
The BRC-20 standard was introduced in March by an anonymous developer known as ‘Domo’. In merely two months, the BRC-20 market cap shot up to reach a cool $1 billion. Even so, Rodarmor suggests that BRC-20 tokens result in a clog of “junk” Unspent Transaction Outputs, or UTXOs, in the Bitcoin network. Are these impacts contemplated by developers like Domo during the creation of the BRC-20? You have to wonder.
But Casey Rodarmor is proposing ‘Runes’ as a counter to this issue. He explains in a recent post, that protocols based on the UTXO model fit more naturally into Bitcoin and help promote UTXO set minimization, thus dodging the generation of redundant UTXOs.
Now, we have all heard of several other fungible token protocols available on Bitcoin, such as Really Good for Bitcoin, Counterparty, and Omni Layer, and we know that they have their issues too. Despite Rodarmor candidly admitting that a staggering 99.9% of fungible tokens are inundated with scams and memes, he is a firm believer in the potential of the right fungible token protocol. He asserts it could indeed add value to the Bitcoin network.
A proposal as such as nurtures ideas and discussion. But we see two perspectives. On one is the potential of a new protocol that can make Bitcoin more efficient and minimize wasted resources. On the other, however, lies skepticism on whether such a step is necessary given the realities of so many token protocols marred by scams, memes or “junk” as Rodarmor aptly puts it.
Notably, Rodarmor mentioned in a Twitter Spaces call that he isn’t sure about pursuing the ‘Runes’ idea further or not. In contrast, The Ordinals Show co-host, Trevor Owens, proposed to offer $100,000 from the Bitcoin Frontier Fund to developers who could advance Rodarmor’s ‘Runes’ proposal. Perhaps, for now, it’s a waiting game, and the skeptics and optimists alike shall be watching with bated breath on where this proposal will land.
Source: Cointelegraph
