The Recent Decline of Bitcoin and Classical Assets

In the past few weeks, with the decline of Bitcoin, the inscription market seems to have entered a small "trough" again, and "classical" assets such as ORDI and SATS have also fallen to varying degrees. This month ORDI fell by 21% and SATS fell by 34%. Fortunately, the recent news that OKX has launched several protocols has made several related inscription assets more active and experienced some gains.

Some time ago, a table compiled by the community showing the rise and fall of Bitcoin community assets on January 24 was widely circulated. It is obvious that the BRC-420 asset rose against the trend on that day when the Inscription Ecosystem assets fell across the board.

The BRC-420 protocol was developed by the Bitmap Tech team (formerly the RCSV team) and allows the recursive combination of multiple inscriptions to create complex assets such as game items, animations, effects or game modules. BRC-420 also combines usage rights and royalties, providing users with inscriptions the ability to assign usage rights and set prices.

Initially, in September, the mint cost of Blue Box, BRC-420's largest asset by market value, was as low as around $1. However, as of this writing, the floor price has reached nearly $25,000. Such an increase is already astonishing just by hearing the numbers, but comparing it with ORDI, the leader of the Bitcoin ecosystem, you will find the astonishing increase more clearly. At that time, the cost of printing an ORDI (one card included 1,000 coins) was 2 to 3 US dollars. Calculated based on the price of 1 ORDI of 60 US dollars, the current price of one ORDI is 60,000 US dollars, which is an increase of more than 20,000 times. invest. However, ORDI took nearly 10 months, while the blue box took 4-5 months.

It is worth noting that on December 26, Recursiverse issued an announcement to upgrade its main brand to Bitmap Tech and announced its four businesses. At that time, Bitmap Tech's overall market value exceeded US$500 million .

Then, on January 19, Bitmap Tech (formerly Recursiverse) officially stated that it would launch the Bitcoin Layer 2 network Merlin Chain, which will be built on the native assets, protocols and products of the Bitcoin layer 2 network. Merlin bridges multiple Bitcoin Layer 1 native assets to Layer 2.

Sitting on the coattails of Bitcoin Layer 2
Sitting on the coattails of Bitcoin Layer 2 may be an important reason why BRC-420 has risen against the trend.

From the beginning of last year to now, the Bitcoin ecosystem has experienced several downturns and has been booming for almost a year. Now it seems to be at a critical moment. The undoubted consensus in the market is that the Bitcoin ecosystem will remain the biggest hot spot for a long time to come. So now the market is beginning to look for new opportunities in the BTC ecosystem, and the consensus of many users at home and abroad is that the future explosion point will be Bitcoin Layer 2.

Therefore, in the recent Bitcoin ecosystem, it is obvious that there are more and more Bitcoin Layer 2 projects. There are more than 30 Bitcoin Layer 2 projects on the market at one time. Obviously, Bitcoin’s Layer 2 solutions are becoming more and more popular, both on the project side and in the community.

It is worth noting that Bitmap Tech’s four businesses specifically include: In addition to Bitmap.Game’s metaverse platform, BRC-420 asset protocol and trading market, and Recursiverse’s recursive application matrix, the most important business is currently being tested. Merlin Chain, the Bitcoin Layer 2 network of the Internet.

Merlin Chain's second-layer Bitcoin solution integrates key modules such as the ZK-Rollup network, decentralized oracle network, and fraud proof on the Bitcoin chain, focusing on empowering Bitcoin's first-layer native assets, protocols, and application ecology.


Image source: Merlin Chain

Merlin Chain’s specific plan for Bitcoin Layer 2 can be seen from several official strategic partners announcing some more detailed directions.

The three new strategic partners officially announced by Bitmap Tech are Particle Network and the newly launched BTC Connect solution, which provide account abstraction services for BTC; Lumoz provides ZKEvm design and construction for BTC Layer 2; and iZUMi Finance provides BTC Layer 2 provides efficient decentralized trading and liquidity solutions.

Among them, iZUMi has launched DaaS services and cooperated with the Bitcoin second-layer network Merlin Chain to launch Merlin Swap. Merlin Swap is operated by an independent operation team and has official support from Merlin Chain and technical support from izUMi Finance. It is committed to leveraging the stability of the Bitcoin ecosystem and the interoperability of Merlin EVM to provide similar centralized exchanges in the DeFi ecosystem. experience. Not only that, 80% of the total token supply of Merlin Swap will be fairly distributed to traders and liquidity provider users of Merlin Swap to stimulate ecological development, and airdrop rewards will be provided to users of izUMi Finance and Merlin Chain.

Although it was previously announced that there is no incentive plan for the Merlin Chain test network, when participating in Space hosted by BlockBeats on January 29, NanFeng, CEO of Merlin Chain partner Lumoz (formerly Opside), stated that Merlin Chain will be launched as early as February this year. Officially launched, some incentive activities will be launched at that time.

In addition, Merlin Chain uses the Cobo MPC solution to ensure that funds are in a non-custodial state to ensure security. After all, Cobo has focused on how to securely manage private keys since its inception, as well as the supporting tools needed to manage private keys. Security and risk control have a certain influence in the industry.

The interaction of the first layer of Bitcoin has a certain threshold for new users, limiting the influx of new funds. Merlin hopes that the second layer will become the "starting point" for users. Whether users deposit BTC or tokens such as USDT/USDC/ETH/BNB, they can experience the native gameplay of BTC on Merlin.

One layer of assets, recursive matrix
Regarding combination and recursion, the DeFi summer was actually a form of expression. It was DeFi Lego bricks like DEX, aggregation and lending that triggered the emergence of Lego bricks. In the field of NFT, it is difficult not to mention Loot. It can be said that the emergence of Loot has opened a new era of NFT composability.

Loot itself, also known as OG Loot, was launched on August 25, 2021, with a total of 8,000 units, and 7,779 units are currently in circulation in the market. Each NFT represents a loot bag containing 8 pieces of equipment. Each line of text describes the corresponding equipment: one item each for the adventurer's feet, hands, chest, neck, and head. In addition, there are rings, One belt and one weapon each. Because Loot is open, it gives it more room for imagination. There are already some community users using it for simple construction, such as generating artwork through it.


In BRC-420, asset composability means that when creating a digital asset, multiple components or elements can be combined together to create new, more complex assets. This feature allows asset creators and users to innovate and customize on the basis of existing assets, thereby increasing the flexibility and diversity of assets. Composability makes it easier to create customized assets that meet specific needs and functionality, which is especially important in fields such as games, art, the metaverse, and more.


Image source: Merlin Chain

This approach not only increases creativity and engagement, but also brings richer and more diverse possibilities to the digital asset ecosystem. Not only that, but BRC-420 will also greatly reduce the pressure on block size limits.

Regarding the composability of Bitcoin assets, Casey has bluntly expressed his strong interest. Also in the tweet, some observations and thoughts about inscriptions on the Bitcoin chain were mentioned.

On December 26 last year, Casey discovered that many inscriptions began with "/content/", followed by the ID of another inscription. He questioned this, looking for who was carrying out such operations, and recalled that it had been mentioned before. Although Casey could not find information about this type of "/content/ID" inscription in the BRC-420 specification at first, he found the relevant information after tips from community members and KOL Bitrili. This discovery inspired Casey, who subsequently innovated the delegate field and incorporated it into the latest upgrade of Ordinals, which has already taken effect and been applied in the DERP airdrop.


Community-first approach to Internet product development
Different from traditional finance, the role of the community in crypto is indispensable and can even be said to be the core force that promotes project development. Especially for the Bitcoin ecosystem, it is particularly important to have an active and engaged community.

As KOL wizard @0x cryptowizard commented, the BRC-420 team understands the essence of Internet products. They not only understand the rigid needs of the market, but also accurately grasp the key to building a strong community. In the Bitcoin ecosystem, the community-first strategy has become an important factor in promoting the success of the project.

For the Bitcoin project, the community is the most valuable asset. Most of the assets launched fairly belong to community members, which makes the Bitcoin ecosystem naturally suitable for adopting a "community first" strategy to promote the development of the project by growing the community. In the Bitcoin ecosystem, especially in the early stages of projects and protocols, the actions of the project party have a decisive impact on the development of the entire ecosystem. Therefore, a deep understanding and effective utilization of this community-driven power is crucial to the success of any Bitcoin-related project.

When Meme Culture Happened to BRC-420
Whether it is a public chain, a protocol, or an ecosystem, meme culture is a shortcut that can help it get out of the circle quickly, and it is also one of the very quick ways to build a community. For BRC-420, This Song about NFT plays this role, and is more commonly known as the "Musk Music Box" in the community.

This song about NFT was released on social media by Elon Musk and aroused widespread discussion and interest at the time. On December 27, 2023, Elon Musk posted this music video on Twitter and claimed that "NFTs on ETH are not on-chain." After that, the community put the video on the chain, and the total supply was 42069. BRC-420 harnesses the power of memes.


The meme videos posted by this community have an absolutely pure community nature, making Bitmap Tech closer to the community.

In its tweet, 0x Wizard discussed the dynamic relationship between BRC-420 assets and Merlin Chain, describing a phenomenon similar to a flywheel effect. He pointed out that a fair launch of tokens on Merlin Chain would attract a large amount of total value locked (TVL) and interaction, thereby driving up the ecosystem valuation. He also mentioned the re-pricing of the music box as the first meme, and how it affects the mining activities of Merlin Chain, locks in liquidity, and attracts new funds after being converted into $tsan through the token swap. flow.

Backed by capital, even more powerful than a tiger
After receiving investment, the BRC-420 protocol can be said to be even more powerful. Major investors in Bitmap Tech include ABCDE Labs and OKX Ventures, both of which have significant influence in the cryptocurrency field.

OKX Ventures Needless to say, as the Bitcoin ecosystem continues to boom, OKX has become the "biggest winner" in this wave because of its smooth wallet products, and Ventures is not willing to lag behind. " Why did OKX become the biggest winner of BRC-20? 》

At the same time, ABCDE Labs has invested in in-depth research in the field of zero-knowledge proof (ZK) technology. On June 27 last year, it jointly hosted the two-month ZK Hacker Camp with Starkware, 0x Parc, BeWater, etc., aiming to promote ZK technology. development and application.

ABCDE Labs and OKX Ventures are also considered "old friends" in the investment community. The two companies jointly led the investment in the decentralized hackathon platform BeWater. In addition, they also participated in multiple Bitcoin ecological projects, such as the Bitcoin pledge agreement Babylon, the Bitcoin Defi ecological project bitSmiley, and the Bitcoin Layer 2 BSquared Network. Obviously, they have active cooperation in promoting the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Internet thinking
The blue box is the first asset officially issued by the BRC-420 team Bitmap Tech. Whether in terms of price or consensus, it can be said to be the core of the entire ecological empowerment, with a total supply of 10,000.


It is reported that blue box holders will receive dividends from future ecological income, airdrops from ecological cooperation projects from time to time, and whitelist qualifications for Bitcoin ecological cooperation projects.

At the same time, “coin exchange” is also a narrative worth looking forward to. According to community news, taking the Bitmap mechanism as an example, the system allows 1 Bitmap to be exchanged for 1,000 $WMAP, and vice versa. This two-way liquidity maintains a stable anchoring relationship, and the cost of the conversion process is almost negligible. Excluding. The same model applies to blue boxes, each of which can be redeemed for 2100 related tokens. It is worth noting that Music Box also adopts a similar token swap mechanism, and the corresponding token is $TSAN.

After checking by BlockBeats, although this kind of news was not released through official channels, it was widely circulated inside and outside the community. Especially in the blue box holder group, this Alpha information is particularly active. In a sense, this holding group is a bit like a paid-for-knowledge group with Alpha properties.

"The Blue Box holding group is divided into two groups. The founder Jeff is very active in the group, and a lot of Alpha information and roadmaps are often disclosed inadvertently." A core member of the community told BlockBeats reporters.

This is reminiscent of Xiaomi, which uses Internet thinking in the mobile phone industry. Shortly after submitting the IPO application in 2018, Lei Jun also emphasized in an open letter "Who is Xiaomi and why Xiaomi is fighting for" that "Xiaomi is not just a hardware company, but an Internet company driven by innovation."

Searching for rice noodles, developing rice noodles and operating rice noodles will ultimately make this fan system the first strategic marketing. It is precisely with this kind of Internet thinking that Xiaomi goes beyond traditional marketing strategies and models and uses the Internet's hyper-temporal connections, high efficiency and low cost to directly talk and interact with users. By operating Internet communities, Xiaomi has established hyperlinks with users, formed a huge "mi fan group", formed a unique Xiaomi model, and brought new thinking to the traditional mobile phone industry.

Now, as Merlin Chain is about to go online, Bitmap Tech has established a hot asset ecosystem, including both officially issued assets and purely community-driven projects. More importantly, it has gathered a huge user base and traffic. This means that in the process of building the Bitcoin Layer 2 network Merlin Chain, Bitmap Tech has a group of loyal users earlier than its competitors.

In this crypto industry where liquidity is king, greater liquidity means greater chances of survival and success.