Bitcoin ecosystem heats up again: which 4 fronts should you watch?
TechFlow Selected TechFlow Selected
Bitcoin ecosystem heats up again: which 4 fronts should you watch?
BRC2.0, legacy Bitcoin NFTs, runes, and Alkanes—what is the market playing at?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: BlockBeats
Opening Magic Eden's Ordinals marketplace, we can see that Bitcoin ecosystem assets have performed quite well over the past week:
Although the chart above only shows 12 projects, it includes three of the main directions currently attracting focus in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Next, we will introduce, through specific project performances, exactly what people are engaging with in the Bitcoin ecosystem today.
BRC 2.0
BRC 2.0 is the most discussed concept recently within Chinese-speaking communities of the Bitcoin ecosystem. It is a "programmable module" for BRC20 released by Best in Slot, the lead maintenance team behind BRC20. Simply put, it enables BRC20 to support smart contracts.
This major upgrade is scheduled to activate on Bitcoin's mainnet at block height 909969 (estimated August 14).
The upgrade has the backing of the Layer 1 Foundation (L1F), created under the leadership of BRC20 creator domo. As shown in the technical architecture diagram below, BRC 2.0 supports smart contracts using an off-chain "EVM executor." According to the workflow depicted, not only are smart contracts executed off-chain, but only the "initiation of contract interaction" and the "result of contract interaction" are recorded on-chain—making the contract state and execution process a "black box."
Despite its imperfections, BRC20 remains the most solid asset protocol driven by Chinese-speaking communities in the Bitcoin ecosystem—an enduring advantage of the BRC20 protocol. Adderrels, as the first BRC 2.0 NFT project, is undoubtedly the current leader in this category based on floor price and trading volume, with a floor price of 0.0143 BTC (approximately $1,687) and trading volume exceeding 6 BTC (around $730,000) over the past seven days.
The project’s highlights include strong support from Chinese-speaking communities, being the first BRC 2.0 NFT project, and having a future token distribution plan (with a total of 55% allocated to holders and stakers). With a total supply of only 3,420, already 2,029 have been staked—nearly a 60% staking rate. Additionally, only 225 are listed for sale on Magic Eden.
Given its dominant position in price and volume, holders and stakers believe they will receive not only airdrops but also whitelist spots for new projects, hoping the project will become the "golden shovel" of BRC 2.0.
Among BRC 2.0 "pre-launch" tokens, $LIQUID leads in trading volume, reaching approximately 3.13 BTC (about $370,000) in the past week, with a current market cap based on floor price of around $450,000.
During the $LIQUID minting period, miner fees surged from ~3 sat/vB to over 30 sat/vB, with about $130,000 generated directly from these transactions.
For a Bitcoin ecosystem that has long been quiet, the vitality brought by BRC 2.0 is already highly commendable.
Legacy Bitcoin NFT Collections
Let us revisit the image at the beginning of this article:
Among legacy Bitcoin NFT collections, NodeMonkes stands out the most in this rally, rising nearly 80% over the past week with trading volume approaching 18.5 BTC (about $2.2 million). However, there hasn't been any particularly significant positive news for NodeMonkes—only an announcement on July 25 about launching a zero-fee trading marketplace.
Nonetheless, trading volume indicates that legacy Bitcoin NFT collections still hold appeal, and the leading tier remains unchanged: NodeMonkes, Bitcoin Puppets, Taproot Wizards, and OMB—the "Four Great Kings." These projects are still far from their peak levels; this rebound may be benefiting from Bitcoin's strength and the recent strong performance of Ethereum NFT leaders like CryptoPunks.
Within the more niche category of art projects, CENTS rose 70% over the past week, with trading volume around 1.8 BTC (approximately $220,000) and a current floor price of 0.0112 BTC (about $1,320). As a conceptual art project, this marks the third time CENTS has reached above 0.01 BTC, gradually solidifying its position as the leading Bitcoin art NFT project over the past year. Sadly, the project's artist Rutherford Chang passed away in February this year—the same day Trump instructed the U.S. Treasury to stop minting new one-cent coins.
RIP Rutherford, your spirit will live on forever on Bitcoin.
Runes
Although the most famous Rune, $DOG, along with its NFT Runestone, declined last week, several Runes have performed exceptionally well over the past 30 days. These include $MIM from Bitcoin Wizard, $PUPS from Bitcoin Puppets, $BDC ("Hundred Billion Cat"), and $GIZMO derived from Bitcoin Puppets.
Nevertheless, the biggest recent positive development for Runes comes from $DOG. On June 27, Kraken listed $DOG. Yesterday, C2 Blockchain announced it had acquired 11.45 million $DOG (worth about $39,000), bringing its total holdings to approximately 145 million (around $490,000), with a target holding of 200 million.
Alkanes
The Alkanes ecosystem has received relatively little attention recently. However, yesterday Oyl announced a snapshot of its Oyl wallet XP. The community now anticipates a potential $DIESEL or $OYL airdrop in the near future.
Conclusion
While the Bitcoin ecosystem still has a long way to go before returning to its peak—and price performance has been disappointing for a prolonged period—the community continues to develop steadily and gain stability. Meanwhile, Chinese-speaking communities remain the backbone of the Bitcoin ecosystem, possibly representing the most influential market segment where Chinese-speaking influence dominates in the crypto space.
Join TechFlow official community to stay tuned
Telegram:https://t.me/TechFlowDaily
X (Twitter):https://x.com/TechFlowPost
X (Twitter) EN:https://x.com/BlockFlow_News
BlockBeats
