The Bitcoin ecosystem saw three Bitcoin token protocols based on OP_CAT come into being in a single day — CAT20 on Fractal, CATNIP by Quantum Cat, and Danny CAT20 by the Moto series. This article is written by c00k1e and compiled by Block Beats.
CAT20, CATNIP, Danny CAT20
Conclusion
Yesterday was a day that seemed suitable for cats to bask in the sun, at least in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Within a day, we saw three Bitcoin FT (fungible token) protocols driven by OP_CAT — CAT20 on Fractal, CATNIP by the Quantum Cat team, and Danny CAT20 by the Moto series.
Among these, CAT20 on Fractal has already had a strong impact. The price of $FB once exceeded $30, and at the time of writing this article, the mining fee on the Fractal chain had reached 2000 sats/vb.
The CATNIP by the Quantum Cat team is still under announcement, and it will not be online until the OP_CAT of the Bitcoin main network is officially revived.
The “Danny CAT20” of the “Moto series” was announced by @bc1plainview, the founder of Motoswap and OP_NET, who claimed to be the first to propose the idea of driving Bitcoin FT protocol with OP_CAT. My specific thoughts on this matter will be discussed later.
Let’s start with the already playable CAT20 on Fractal. The spread of CAT20 was not as intense in the early days. Until last night, I could still make some at a fee rate of 300-500 sats/vb. The real heat started last night when a “CAT20” column suddenly appeared on Fractal’s block browser close to 11 PM, and it caused a FOMO frenzy.
Since the data has not changed since it appeared last night, it is hard to determine how long it will take for $CAT to be completely mined. If the price of $FB is $30 and it costs 2000 sats/vb to mine, the cost per unit is close to $1, which means that under these circumstances, $CAT is essentially “purchased” at a market value of $21 million.
CAT20’s technical documentation is very professional, and the Github page is quite organized. It is a protocol that uses OP_CAT technology to drive the FT protocol. It is hard to produce something of this caliber without a deep understanding of Bitcoin’s technology.
So, what does it mean to “use OP_CAT technology to drive the FT protocol”? To answer this using official documents, “any rules governing the Token minting process are executed in the smart contract.” Based on this, CAT20 has these features (for more features, refer to the official document):
– It does not burn assets. You can directly use the UTXO used to mint the token to continue minting more tokens. Essentially, CAT20 is like writing data in UTXO and then having a smart contract process it.
– Ticker can be repeated. Although tickers can be repeated, each Token in the genesis transaction txid and output index is different, constituting a unique tokenid that distinguishes different tokens with the same ticker.
– More flexible minting rules. There are no prescribed rules; it depends entirely on how the contract is written when deploying the Token. Some use cases mentioned in the official documentation include pre-sale, pre-mining, PoW mining, designated Token holder minting, and staking minting, among others.
The CATNIP by the Quantum Cat team is more similar to CAT20 in terms of implementation. Therefore, in the following section on CATNIP, I would like to focus on its potential significant impact on the Bitcoin ecosystem.
First, it is important to note that CATNIP will only be online after the formal revival of OP_CAT on the Bitcoin main network. There will be no way to participate before that, unlike Runes, which can be “rushed” by imitating Casey’s ideas. The reason for this is also explained in the CAT20 section above — without OP_CAT, it is impossible to realize “any rules governing the Token minting process are executed in the smart contract.”
When I saw CATNIP, my first thought was that it seemed like it was finally showing its “fangs,” wanting to “escape beyond Ordinals”…
Why do I say this? Let’s take a look at his tweet:
He said that the user experience of BRC-20 and Runes left most crypto enthusiasts disappointed. Although Ordinals and Runes are widely regarded as superior NFT implementations on other chains, BRC-20 and Runes do not meet the FT protocol standards of other chains. The reason is that Bitcoin’s consensus (nodes and miners) does not know of their existence. Runes must bypass the restrictions by code tricks to “deceive” (not an attack, just a description) in order to be realized on the Bitcoin network. This is also why Runes have to split the UTXO or transactions cannot partially purchase, and the reason why they cannot have AMM and liquidity pools.
If Bitcoin’s consensus accepts OP_CAT, there will no longer be a need to “deceive,” and more can be achieved.
Since the birth of Ordinals, most of Bitcoin’s ecosystem innovation has revolved around Ordinals, including FT and NFT. Udi’s suggestion may divide the attention of Bitcoin’s ecosystem. One half will focus on OP_CAT and FT, and the other half on Ordinals and NFT.
If the OP_CAT of the Bitcoin main network is successfully revived, one of the biggest beneficiaries will undoubtedly be the “Magician” and the Quantum Cat team and holders. Even now, we can guess two benefits for the holders of these two projects: the first token of CATNIP will be airdropped to the “Magician” and the Quantum Cat, and they will benefit directly. Starting a community-led movement to revive OP_CAT and ultimately succeed will make their position as NFT projects difficult to reach, bringing them indirect benefits.
Apart from passion, I think they also have practical reasons for the revival of OP_CAT. After all, the “Magician” raised $7.5 million in financing.
The short-term development will be interesting. Will Udi and supporters of Ordinals (or even Casey) engage in a debate? CAT20 on Fractal has taken the lead, and will there be competition between the two, such as CAT20 heading to the main network in the future? Will this lead to a new wave of “no one accepts the other”?
Compared to the above two, this entrant is more opportunistic… Frankly, after reading @bc1plainview’s tweet, I was at a loss — brother, how dare you claim to have invented CAT20 a month ago…
Without the technical documentation as professional as CAT20, or the detailed explanation of the implementation process like CATNIP, there is only this Telegram screenshot. Okay, I will explain the idea expressed in this screenshot — essentially, it is using OP_CAT to link up several fields of the Mint Rune. Okay, I’ve invented the OP_CAT version of BRC-20.
This is irrelevant to CAT20. Essentially, this and BRC-20 are the same, built on the Ordinals protocol, which is why it must wait until Fractal’s block height 21000 Ordinals protocol is enabled to launch. Secondly, CAT20 and CATNIP are both powered by contracts to drive the entire FT protocol, while this Danny CAT20 is actually rune-driven, just changing the way the mint rune is created to use OP_CAT to link the words on the mint rune…
This is like a piece of beef. CAT20 and CATNIP are exploring how to upgrade the pot to an alchemy furnace, and turn the beef into Tang monk meat. This older brother comes out and says that a steak can be fried as a whole block or cut into pieces and grilled on skewers. We are on the same level…
The “innovation by making a dish” that seeks to gain advantage is not allowed.
CAT20 and CATNIP undoubtedly made me excited. I had wanted to write about OP_CAT before, but the technical principles are very abstruse, and there were no direct use cases to explain and share with everyone. With the emergence of these two, I think we will see more OP_CAT applications.
Ordinals opened the door to Bitcoin innovation exploration, but the long and arduous journey ahead is lonely without the existence of Ordinals, and even abnormal. We are happy to see more exploration. As for Fractal, the emergence of CAT20 is an excellent interpretation of its “experimental field” positioning, and it makes me look forward to the future development of Fractal.
Related reports
Is the altcoin about to explode? Bitfinex: Signs of reversal are emerging, and performance in the coming months may be better than Bitcoin
How Fractal Bitcoin creates a parallel high-speed channel for the Bitcoin main network
Fractal Bitcoin’s economic model reveals “80% allocation to the community”, PizzaSwap will be online this week