Bitcoin Newcomer Fractal: Ecological Innovation or Fad?

Since September, with the community frenzy sparked by Fractal, the market focus has returned to the Bitcoin ecosystem. A large number of users have participated in the assets and games launched by Fractal, leading to high on-chain gas fees. The significant heat generated by Fractal can be attributed to the following reasons:

Firstly, the current overall market is sluggish, lacking fresh narratives. Secondly, based on Unisat's previous generous airdrop of Pizza, many users place a high value on the launch of Fractal, even engaging in extreme competition during the testnet phase, with an estimated tens of millions of addresses participating in testnet tasks in hopes of receiving airdrop rewards. Finally, the high multiplier return effect brought by asset protocols like Cat20 continues to ferment, driving the popularity of Fractal to rise.

In addition, the official hunger marketing of Unisat has also played a role. The originally small circulating supply of the FB airdrop has skyrocketed as on-chain competition intensifies, making FB a "golden shovel" and indirectly accelerating the development of Fractal.

Based on the above reasons, it is particularly necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of Fractal.

Overview of Fractal: The Native Solution for Bitcoin Scaling

Fractal is a scaling solution that infinitely expands layers recursively based on the core Bitcoin code. It is designed as a second-layer network or sidechain for Bitcoin, serving as a native extension to the first-layer network. While maintaining orthodoxy, it enhances transaction efficiency by accelerating block generation speed and increasing block capacity.

Fractal is fully compatible with the Bitcoin mainnet, allowing users to trade on the Fractal network, with these transactions able to interact with or sync to the mainnet afterward. It also offers faster transaction confirmations (, such as block times of 30 seconds ) and a block capacity ( that is 20 times larger than that of the mainnet ).

As a native expansion solution, Fractal can start from the Bitcoin main chain to achieve cross-layer secure asset transfers. Assets such as Bitcoin, BRC-20, and Ordinals can be bridged through a decentralized bridge, using a dynamically replaced rotating MPC signature mechanism at the underlying layer.

Fractal is functionally similar to the Bitcoin testnet, supporting some features that are not yet activated on the mainnet in advance. It serves as a testing ground suitable for complex applications to experiment and innovate. It allows users to participate in interactions and provide feedback in a real environment, similar to the significance of EVM Layer 2 networks for Ethereum.

Investment and Financing: Strong Collaboration to Promote Development

Fractal is developed in collaboration between UniSat and Block Space Force. As the main developer, UniSat is a leading Bitcoin wallet with over 900,000 active users weekly. It has secured 5 rounds of undisclosed financing, with two rounds led by OKX and another trading platform, and participation from Waterdrip Capital, ABCDE Capital, and others.

Block Space Force is a crypto-native fund with a portfolio that includes well-known projects such as Babylon, Pendle, and Aevo. Overall, UniSat's resources are more prominent, and its successful brand and previous generous Pizza airdrop have attracted a large number of loyal users, making it the best endorsement for Fractal.

With the promotion of two project parties, Fractal has implemented a series of strategic plans to engage users and developers. After the mainnet launch, 1 million FB tokens were airdropped to over 100,000 eligible addresses, and multiple developer funding programs were launched, demonstrating its ambition for ecological construction.

Fractal Highlights: Clear Advantages

The main highlights of Fractal are the performance optimization and improvements based on the Bitcoin mainnet, as well as the newly launched asset issuance methods and ecological applications. Figuratively speaking, Fractal is like putting a "new wine" of a brand new asset issuance method into the "old bottle" of Bitcoin mainnet resources. Specifically:

1. Multi-layer expansion mechanism: Enhances transaction speed through recursive expansion layers, forming a tree structure, where each layer can independently process transactions and dynamically adjust the number of layers.

2. Cadence Mining(: Adopts the same PoW consensus as Bitcoin, BTC miners can seamlessly switch to mining Fractal blocks using existing equipment.

3. OP_CAT: This opcode introduces more development possibilities for the BTC ecosystem, such as on-chain applications, smart contracts, etc.

4. Asset Bridging: Bitcoin and assets such as BRC-20 and Ordinals can be bridged through decentralized bridges.

5. Faster transaction confirmations and larger block capacity: Provides a block time of 30 seconds and a block capacity 20 times that of the mainnet.

![Exploring the new favorite of BTC: Is Fractal an ecological revolution or a follower?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-8774b3bbb82b523e60218bc38f1b5bba.webp(

Fractal Token Economics

The Fractal mainnet mainly consumes two types of tokens: $FB) general gas ( and $SATS) exclusive gas (.

$FB total issuance is 210 million coins, distributed as follows:

• 50% for PoW mining, Bitcoin miners can directly mine $FB
• 15% ecosystem treasury, up to 10% of the total amount can be used each year for 10 years.
• 15% core contributors, locked for 7 months and released linearly within 12 months
• 10% community subsidy, up to 10% of the total amount can be used each year within 10 years.
• 5% presale, locked for 7 months with linear release within 12 months
• 5% advisor, up to 20% of the total amount can be used each year within 5 years

The official allows users to track specific addresses to see the usage of funds, ensuring transparency.

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Fractal Ecosystem Overview

) CAT 20

The most popular ecological protocol currently, launched by CAT Protocol. With a total supply of 21 million, it has triggered a massive influx of users to mint, driving the on-chain Gas fees to skyrocket. Its innovations include the use of OP_CAT opcode, modular programmable minting, and full miner verification. However, since it is still in the early stages, its feasibility remains to be seen.

![Exploring the new darling of BTC: Is Fractal an ecological revolution or a follower?]###https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-1686b51d2ee16e9d7c7eac350063e6b8.webp(

) BTCTerminal

The original Rune project has been renamed RunesTerminal, providing a comprehensive trading market for the Fractal ecosystem, supporting functions such as querying Mint progress and wallet balance.

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) UniWorlds

The metaverse project built on Fractal, developing a community and game toolkit for interoperable virtual worlds. As the first large-scale application developed by the UniSat team, it has received official resource support.

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) BRC20

Although trading is active, the performance of leading projects is mediocre, and there is a widespread situation of entrepreneurial platforms or studios monopolizing the market. Future development still needs to be tested by the market.

![Exploring the new darling of BTC: Is Fractal an ecological revolution or a follower?]###https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-215dc211a973d39eaa4d37697f50b228.webp(

Conclusion

Overall, Fractal has not many innovations, mainly focusing on compatibility and optimization of the mainnet. The ecosystem is still in the exploratory phase, and the development prospects of new projects are still unclear, with more answers requiring time and market testing.

![Exploring the new darling of BTC: Is Fractal an ecological revolution or a trend follower?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-ff7e5a78c42e9f206763af49887b9249.webp(

![Exploring the New Favorite of BTC: Is Fractal an Ecological Revolution or a Follower?])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-ad144d0469c8335acbaf3d413983e1fd.webp(