A Review of the Bitcoin Inscription Protocol's Track and Principles

BRC-20

BRC-20 is a token standard whose key information is inscribed in the witness script data of Bitcoin transactions. This protocol was created by blockchain analyst Domo in early March 2023, allowing BRC-20 tokens to carry JSON data, enabling additional functionalities such as token deployment, minting, and transfer on the Bitcoin network. The BRC-20 standard supports the creation and transfer of fungible tokens through the Ordinals protocol, such as Ordi and Pepe.

The BRC-20 indexer is responsible for maintaining the ledger, which is completely independent of Bitcoin. The indexer must accurately record each balance change to ensure the integrity of the ledger. Although the indexer's ledger may accumulate over time and with increasing node load, the infrastructure remains robust due to collaborative efforts from multiple technical teams, including OKX, ensuring the reliability of BRC-20.

BRC-20 tokens introduce an innovative dimension to the Bitcoin blockchain, providing new possibilities for tokenization and decentralized applications within the BTC ecosystem. While they demonstrate broader applications and flexibility within the BTC ecosystem, there are some limitations regarding smart contract functionality and interoperability. However, the ongoing development and growing interest in BRC-20 tokens indicate their potential to significantly impact the digital asset space, making Bitcoin not just a cryptocurrency but a platform for various tokenized assets and applications.

BRC-420

The BRC-420 protocol is an innovative approach to digital asset management in the metaverse, providing creators with a comprehensive system to manage, share, and monetize their creations through recursion, licensing, and royalties.

This protocol aims to disrupt the concept of digital asset creation and distribution in virtual spaces. Creators using BRC-420 can develop complex asset formats, such as game items, animations, effects, or game modules, and open these formats for community-driven enhancements and utilization. Most importantly, BRC-420 implements a unique system that links usage rights with licensing fees, creating new revenue streams for digital assets.

Based on inscriptions, BRC-420 combines usage rights and licensing fees through constraint relationships. Individuals who own inscriptions can assign their usage rights and set prices for them. Usage rights can be understood as allowing other users to use the creator's music, models, scripts, games, etc., in ordinary spaces, or interpreted as purchasing certain privileges, such as joining the creator's organization or club.

Key features of BRC-420 include the realization of complex recursive digital asset formats in the metaverse, linking usage rights with royalties that benefit creators. In terms of technical specifications, it supports various recursive asset formats (2D, 3D), integrates with blockchains, and facilitates automatic royalty transfers. Furthermore, BRC-420 enhances usability across various digital ecosystems through widespread adoption by gaming platforms and engines, while achieving immutable asset deployment and transparent blockchain-recorded transactions to protect the rights of creators and users.

Regarding deployment, anyone can deploy BRC-420 for the inscriptions they own. The deployer is the recipient of the licensing fees. Each inscription can only deploy BRC-420 once, meaning that once a valid BRC-420 deployment has been made for a specific inscription, further deployments will be invalid.

In games and modular blockchains associated with Ordinals, BRC-420 offers innovative possibilities for creators. Different creators can contribute various modules, enabling new creators to build on the innovations of their predecessors, leading to a surge in innovation within the Ordinals ecosystem, benefiting all parties involved.

The BRC-100 protocol is a decentralized computing protocol based on ordinal theory, specifically designed for decentralized applications on Bitcoin Layer 1, such as DeFi, SocialFi, and GameFi. It is defined as a scalable decentralized computing protocol that allows for the integration of new features and functionalities over time.

BRC-100

BRC-100 introduces unique computational operations such as mint2 / mint3 and burn2 / burn3, each adding a layer of complexity and functionality to the protocol. The mint2 and mint3 operations expand the basic issuance process by merging specific conditions or states. For example, mint2 can be used to issue tokens under certain conditions, typically involving updates to application states, while mint3 allows for token minting without affecting the circulating supply, which is useful for specific use cases. Similarly, burn2 and burn3 extend the standard burning process. Burn2 is used to destroy tokens under specific conditions, typically resulting in changes to application states, while burn3 allows tokens to be converted into different states within the application without reducing the circulating supply. For instance, in a lending application, after users collateralize tokens, the application can use the mint2 instruction to mint certification tokens for users.

A notable feature of the BRC-100 protocol is its comprehensive set of parameters and operations that define its functionality. Key parameters include "extends," "upgradeFrom," "openAsChild," and "stoppable," each serving a specific purpose within the protocol architecture. For example, "extends" determines inheritance from other protocols, while "stoppable" indicates whether an application can be stopped.

BRC-100 proposes a modular approach to protocol and application development: inheritance and nesting, providing a theoretical foundation for the expansion of BRC-100 protocols and applications. The protocol fundamentally describes tokens with computational capabilities and states, extending the behavior of the BRC-20 protocol. Computational capabilities and state transitions can be expanded through BRC-100 extension protocols, and all BRC-100 extension protocols are mutually compatible, meaning that tokens implementing BRC-100 and its extension protocols can be used across applications. Additionally, the BRC-100 protocol and its extension protocols can be updated and upgraded through protocol improvements. The collection of the BRC-100 protocol and its extensions and improvements is referred to as the BRC-100 protocol stack.

BRC-100 is known for its comprehensive parameters, various operations, and advanced computational capabilities. It can support protocol extensions like BRC-101 and unique computational operations, showcasing its adaptability and innovation in addressing the complex demands of decentralized computing.

BRC-1024

The BRC-1024 protocol is an open metaverse construction protocol based on Bitcoin ordinal theory. It outlines the core elements of the metaverse on the Bitcoin network, such as characters, maps, and worldviews, and constructs a virtual open world similar to Marvel and Star Wars.

Once the metaverse components are deployed, any wallet can mint its instances.

The sequential operations outlined below help deploy a component named "charactor:warrior" in the root metaverse, clearly defining the role of the warrior in this context. In the "tick" field, the hierarchical category separator is represented by ":", indicating that "warrior" is a subset of the broader category "character."

Within the realm of "elements," the components of the "warrior" component are expressed in dictionary form. The keys in this dictionary relate to element names, including race, subrace, gender, hair color, hairstyle, skin color, clothing, accessories, weapons, and exoskeleton, totaling ten different elements. The corresponding values for each key are arrays containing candidate values for specific elements. When initiating the creation of a warrior instance through the "mint" operation, one candidate value for each element must be carefully selected from the provided arrays.

After deploying the metaverse components, any wallet can mint its instances. Once minted, the holder's wallet possesses a warrior character instance in the root. After transferring the inscription to another wallet, the instance will belong to the new wallet.

Essentially, various elements in the virtual world can be precisely defined by minting different metaverse components, including characters, land, environments, worldviews, etc. The founders emphasize in the white paper that the definition of metaverse asset elements is not limited by current formats. The protocol envisions future support for various types, including integers, floating-point numbers, strings, and even more complex construction rules. Additionally, anticipated functionalities include support for upgrade capabilities, raising higher expectations among user communities.

BRC-137

BRC-137 introduces a brand-new decentralized identity system to the Bitcoin ecosystem. It provides organizations and communities with a way to distinguish themselves and build brands within the Bitcoin ecosystem, offering high flexibility and liquidity, serving as the cornerstone for decentralized social interactions, community governance, and the SocialVerse in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

For traditional decentralized identifiers (DIDs), their format typically follows \<name>.\<TLD>, where \<TLD> indicates the domain to which it belongs. Within the same domain, name duplication is usually not allowed. To enhance the flexibility and liquidity of domain names, BRC-137 proposes a new DID combination form.

The BRC-137 protocol allows anyone to mint a unique \<DID> in a completely permissionless and decentralized manner. \<DID> is a semi-fungible inscription compatible with the BRC-20 protocol, with a total supply of 21 million. Holders of a \<DID> can customize a string as a name (unique across the entire chain and first-come, first-served), and once the inscription is engraved with the string, it becomes non-fungible. For infrastructure or dApps integrated with the BRC-137 protocol, the engraved \<DID> can be directly resolved to the address of the inscription holder.

At the same time, \<DID> inscriptions can establish binding relationships with multiple \<TLD>. After establishing a binding relationship, \<DID>.\<TLD> can also resolve to the owner's address. \<TLD> is similarly distributed in a decentralized manner, allowing any organization or community to create its brand and establish an identification system through \<TLD>.

BRC-137 includes three types of assets: BRC137-DID, BRC137-TLD, and BRC137-DELEGATOR. Among them, BRC137-TLD and BRC137-DELEGATOR are non-fungible tokens based on the BRC-420 protocol, while BRC137-DID is a semi-fungible token based on the BRC-20 protocol.

BRC-137 mainly includes the following three types of assets:

BRC137-DID is a semi-fungible token compatible with the BRC-20 standard. Anyone can mint BRC137-DID in a completely decentralized manner, and after naming, BRC137-DID will become a non-fungible token that can be directly resolved to the owner's address. Additionally, BRC137-DID can be bound to any number of BRC137-TLD to obtain additional names. The introduction of BRC137-DID achieves decentralized identification in the Bitcoin ecosystem while ensuring high liquidity in asset nature.
BRC137-TLD is a non-fungible token in the BRC-137 protocol, with naming rules similar to BRC137-DID. Once named, it cannot be changed. Holders can set binding fees, and holders of BRC137-DID can pay binding fees to holders of BRC137-TLD to bind the \<DID> with the \<TLD> suffix, thus achieving community identity acquisition. The launch of BRC137-TLD further enriches the ecosystem of decentralized identity on the Bitcoin chain, providing a more comprehensive solution for on-chain community governance.
BRC137-DELEGATOR is a special asset in the BRC-137 protocol, with a limited quantity. Holders can become proxy nodes. Proxy nodes can batch record user transactions to reduce transaction costs and profit by charging users fees lower than transaction fees. The introduction of the BRC137-DELEGATOR role reduces transaction costs for BRC-137 holders while providing profit opportunities for BRC137-DELEGATOR holders, promoting the development of the BRC-137 ecosystem.

Conclusion

From the generation and transmission of inscriptions to unique computational capabilities, to the creation of open virtual worlds through BRC-420, and the decentralized identity system of the BRC-137 protocol, each protocol presents its unique technical features and application areas.

This series of inscription protocols, including BRC-420 and BRC-137, is not just synonymous with digital assets; it represents a new generation of foundational protocols on the Bitcoin chain, paving the way for the development of blockchain technology. This is not only an evolution of Bitcoin as a digital currency but also the rise of Bitcoin as a platform, providing a solid foundation for various digital assets and applications.

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