Analysis of the Bitcoin Scaling Solution: Fractal Bitcoin

In March 2023, developer Domo introduced the BRC-20 standard using the Ordinals protocol and Inscriptions, allowing users to issue and trade tokens on the Bitcoin network, similar to Ethereum's ERC-20 standard. The issuance of new assets created significant wealth opportunities, attracting the attention of many developers and venture capitalists to the Bitcoin ecosystem.

With the rise of the Ordinals protocol and the BRC-20 standard, user-friendly asset management tools and trading markets became essential for participants. Unisat is a browser-based wallet focused on the Bitcoin blockchain, specifically on the Ordinals and BRC-20 standards. Leveraging its first-mover advantage, Unisat has captured a significant market share.

The explosive popularity of “Inscriptions” not only drew the attention of the public and developers to the Bitcoin ecosystem but also highlighted the potential to unlock Bitcoin's vast potential. This led to a growing demand for scalability.

Fractal is a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution co-developed by the Unisat team, BSF, Uniworlds, and Asset Bridge. It is the only solution that uses Bitcoin's core code to recursively expand infinite layers on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, using BRC-20 token Sats as the gas fee.

Fractal Bitcoin Explained

Fractal Bitcoin improves transaction processing capacity and speed by recursively creating infinite expansion layers on the BTC main chain using the BTC core code, while maintaining full compatibility with the existing Bitcoin ecosystem. Fractal creates multiple expansion layers on top of the BTC main chain, forming a tree-like recursive structure. This structure allows each layer to further expand in a “forking pattern,” increasing the network's parallel processing capacity. Fractal possesses the following 6 characteristics:

• Fast Transaction Speed: The block confirmation time on the Fractal network is approximately 30 seconds, and its transaction processing capacity is 20 times that of the BTC main chain.
• Native Compatibility: Fractal Bitcoin is developed based on the BTC core code, ensuring full compatibility with existing Bitcoin wallets, tools, and mining equipment.
• Dynamic Adjustment: The recursive system based on the BTC main chain can automatically adjust the number of expansion layers according to network congestion.
• Security and Traceability: All transactions conducted on the Fractal network can ultimately be traced back to the Bitcoin main chain.
• Cadence Mining: Every three blocks constitute a cycle, with two mined in a permissionless manner (anyone with suitable hardware can participate), and one mined through merged mining (targeted at BTC miners), balancing decentralization and security.
• Reapplication of OP_CAT: The “purified” OP_CAT is applied to enhance BTC's scripting capabilities.


Commentary on Fractal

Bob Bodily, CEO of Bioniq, shared his views on Fractal, summarized as follows:

• Fractal Bitcoin is a Bitcoin sidechain: This is because it has its own miners and nodes, its own token, its own proof of work, and is completely separate from BTC. Comparing it to other BTC sidechains, Fractal Bitcoin combines the advantages of multiple BTC sidechains.
• Limited Smart Contracts: Fractal Bitcoin does not add new opcodes to enhance smart contract functionality, nor does it add a virtual machine. Its method is to re-enable OP_CAT to add smart contract-like features.
• Lack of Innovation in Bitcoin Bridges: The official documentation mentions MPC-based bridging, which essentially relies on the same trust assumptions as multi-signature.

In response, Unisat Founder and CEO Lorenzo commented that Fractal is making rapid progress in implementing smart contracts and cross-chain bridges. In terms of smart contracts, Fractal introduced OP_CAT during the testnet reset and plans to activate it on the mainnet starting September 1. This is the first step in enhancing Bitcoin's scripting capabilities with the support of the Unisat and sCrypt teams. Developers can explore potential programming capabilities with OP_CAT enabled on GitHub. Regarding cross-chain bridges, 3-5 methods for transferring assets from the Bitcoin mainnet to Fractal are under development, including both traditional and innovative approaches.

Sats and Pizza Surge

There has been debate within the community regarding the technology of Fractal Bitcoin. However, the secondary market seems optimistic about Fractal Bitcoin.

As the Fractal Bitcoin testnet progresses and the announcement of the expected mainnet activation on September 1, related BRC-20 tokens ORDI and PIZZA have seen significant increases. Additionally, SATS has surpassed the previous BRC-20 leader ORDI in market capitalization.



Note:

• SATS will be used as the transaction fee on Fractal Bitcoin.
• PIZZA is a MEME token airdropped for Unisat users.