Fifteen years ago, the exchange of 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas was considered a joke. Fifteen years later, Bitcoin has reached a historic new high, but OKX Wallet has announced it will stop supporting Runes.
The debate over Bitcoin and BTCFi has never ceased. With the stablecoin bill established, Satoshi Nakamoto's great vision of peer-to-peer electronic cash has today been seized by governments, central banks, and traditional financial giants.
Where is the Bitcoin ecosystem headed? Let's dig deeper!
Indeed, after 15 years, a richer array of business models has emerged around Bitcoin. The Rootdata Bitcoin ecosystem map now features 429 applications, ranking in the top 10. Infra, Layer 1, Layer 2, NFTs, Ordinals, Runes, and various applications surrounding PayFi and DeFi are emerging one after another, becoming a major narrative with the push of capital.
When the tide recedes, we can see who is swimming naked and who is working seriously.
Is BTCFi dead?
Many people ask this question, which should be more accurately understood as: Is the Bitcoin staking track dead? According to users' understanding, if large-scale counteractions and a sluggish market cap/price mean it's dead, then this track is indeed dead. However, we must also consider another perspective: from the project team's viewpoint, are they making money? Are they still building? Looking at it this way makes it interesting.
Babylon gradually fell silent after the last subsidy for user gas was received, but it did not stop building. The second phase of the mainnet went live on May 9, and on May 16, a single transfer of 10,000 bitcoins was moved to Babylon phase-2 to provide punishable security, with a total stake of 50,000 bitcoins, equating to a TVL of $5 billion.
In addition, recently B² and Merlin both entered CoinMarketCap Alpha. You read that right, it's Merin. They haven't laid down either; they've been quietly working. Lorenzo launched the CoinMarketCap wallet IDO and contract, and the new narrative of "on-chain investment banking" is already showing results. Lombard recently collaborated with Pendle and Aave to enhance Bitcoin asset liquidity; Nubit showcased the Bitcoin Thunderbolt protocol at FBC’25; Sol continues to expand its on-chain micro-strategy landscape, supporting Chainlink CCIP on Solana.
Not everyone is working hard, though. A certain project starting with 'B' has only updated its Chinese Twitter with two posts since May, one of which was a pizza festival lottery.
Still into Ordinals?
OKX Wallet has chosen to no longer support Runes, which is understandable, as this is a product aimed at the general public. The BTC ecosystem has now faded from the mainstream and returned to its original point.
Most of this part's creativity is related to OP_Return. Bitcoin's recent upgrade has also turned some assets into antiques. Bitcoin continues to reach new highs, but the assets surrounding Bitcoin have become a counterclockwise clock. Is this reasonable? There are projects that are not happy about it.
Unisat's Bitcoin Mystery Garden
If we talk about true love, Unisat's love for Bitcoin and the Bitcoin ecosystem is absolutely genuine, and I believe that peers, capital, and users would not refute this. This team is dedicated to Bitcoin, and while there are mixed opinions, everyone acknowledges that when discussing the Bitcoin ecosystem, Unisat cannot be overlooked.
Let's take a look at what flowers Unisat has planted in the Bitcoin land:
UniSat Wallet
A wallet that supports Ordinals, Runes, BRC-20, and rare satoshis, with multiple terminal products that can meet mainstream asset management needs.
UniScan
A browser is essential infrastructure for chain and ecosystem protocols. Uniscan can provide comprehensive data services for ecosystem projects and users, while ensuring consistency in various data structures, such as BTC and Fractal addresses. If new protocols join, Uniscan can also be compatible, maintaining data consistency across complex protocols under the same address.
UniSat Marketplace
A BRC-20 asset trading platform based on PSBT, which became a mainstream inscription market after its launch in April 2023 and integrated wallets to become an all-in-one product for issuance, new offerings, trading, and fundraising.
PizzaSwap
PizzaSwap evolved from BRC-20, and the new brand signifies that it is no longer limited to BRC-20 assets but aims at the entire Bitcoin ecosystem. PizzaSwap began testing on Fractal and completed product deployment, with the domain upgraded to an independent domain for independent development. How to transition from Fractal to the mainnet? The answer is open collaboration; PizzaSwap will work with OKX Wallet and L1F to break through protocol limitations and embrace the mainnet, and in the future, it will also support more new assets for decentralized trading.
Support for Fractal Bitcoin (FB)
UniSat is a core promoter of Fractal Bitcoin, helping to build the Fractal ecosystem by providing infrastructure support (such as open-source BRC-20 indexing and Runes activation).
Alkanes Protocol
This is a new star protocol on Bitcoin Layer 1, simply put, it adds a smart contract "plugin" to BTC. Code is written in Rust, compiled into WebAssembly (WASM), compressed, and directly inserted into the Bitcoin blockchain. Combined with the Metashrew indexer, the on-chain state is clear and transparent! With the support of smart contracts, this is definitely something to pay attention to; it is a significant event for the future.
This seems to have been discovered; UniSat's related infrastructure may gradually support Alkanes. Wallets and browsers will lead the way, while minting and market functions may follow suit, and the Swap module will also achieve compatibility in the near future.
Last year, UniSat collaborated with the Layer 1 Foundation to promote the BRC-20 standard upgrade, aiming to achieve a fully decentralized AMM mechanism, similar to the trading experience of Uniswap. Additionally, UniSat enhanced asset interoperability through PizzaSwap and cross-chain bridges, laying the foundation for DeFi scenarios in the BTC ecosystem.
It can be said that these are essential infrastructures for the ecosystem! Many may criticize, "Unisat, why are you doing everything?" I will say, honestly, there’s no choice, my friend; if no one does the infrastructure, and if it’s done poorly and then stopped abruptly… how can we not step up ourselves? Everyone is focused on issuing tokens; my friend, issuing tokens also requires wallets, protocols, chains, and DEXs. If you don’t do these well, are users supposed to use code to manage assets?
The Hammer of Bitcoin Revival
Among these, I think the most challenging and promising are Fractal Bitcoin and PizzaSwap.
Fractal Bitcoin
This is a Bitcoin expansion solution developed by the UniSat team, based on the Bitcoin core code, fully compatible with existing Bitcoin wallets, tools, and mining equipment. Its uniqueness lies in expanding itself through Bitcoin itself, using fractal design to enhance network performance while retaining Bitcoin's security and decentralization features.
It is worth mentioning that Fractal Bitcoin has received support from over 90% of the network's hash power, especially with the addition of Foundry, the largest compliant mining pool in the U.S. Through the innovative Cadence Mining model, Fractal can share Bitcoin's hash power resources, further enhancing network security and stability.
As a layer protocol, Fractal Bitcoin uses the FB protocol to reduce block confirmation time from 10 minutes to 30 seconds, supporting various protocols such as BRC-20 and Runes, significantly improving transaction efficiency. Currently, Fractal Bitcoin has been launched for nearly a year, and its TPS remains stable at around 170, far exceeding the Bitcoin mainnet's 7-10 TPS, indicating high protocol activity, cheaper, faster, and more efficient transactions.
What are users doing?
According to OKX and Fractal browsers, the main active behaviors are inscription minting, trading, DeFi swaps, liquidity management, and $FB transfers.
Is Fractal considered Layer 2? It's quite controversial. Amid the debate, modular solutions can indeed optimize the BRC-20 protocol, save block space, and build sustainable incentive models. Let's learn by doing.
PizzaSwap
This is a decentralized exchange launched by UniSat on Fractal Bitcoin, providing an efficient, native trading platform for assets on the Bitcoin mainnet and the Fractal ecosystem.
How is this AMM achieved?
PizzaSwap achieves a fully decentralized trading logic by locking, not transferring, mainnet and Fractal assets in a module. Bool Bridge and SimpleBridge can also enable cross-chain transactions between mainnet and Fractal assets.
Will PizzaSwap quickly support the Alkanes protocol? I think it definitely will, and it won't be too late. In comparison, Oyl also supports it, but its compatibility with Runes and other BRC-20 assets is a bit weaker. DotSwap can also support it, but the experience is slightly lacking, and the centralized risk has not been alleviated.
On one side, there is a leap in application layer production, token issuance, transformation, or playing dead; on the other side, there is slow innovation in underlying infrastructure and protocols. Some choose to take a hidden route, while others choose to work hard to make up for shortcomings. Both are fine; it depends on what you prefer. I have always maintained a love for Bitcoin and the Bitcoin ecosystem, willing to take a closer look and support it a bit more, after all, such niche and pure things will become increasingly rare in the future.
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