Bitcoin Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor pitches BRC-20 alternative ‘Runes’

Bitcoin Ordinals inventor Casey Rodarmor says a fungible token protocol like Runes wouldn’t leave as much “junk” on the Bitcoin network as that of BRC-20 tokens.

The inventor of Bitcoin Ordinals is proposing a new Bitcoin-based fungible token protocol as a potential alternative to the BRC-20 token standard.

The BRC-20 standard was launched in March by anonymous developer “Domo.” Within two months, the BRC-20 market cap reached $1 billion, with PEPE and ORDI among the most notable BRC-20 tokens created on Bitcoin.

BRC-20 enables the minting and transfer of fungible tokens via the Ordinals protocol on Bitcoin. But the issue with BRC-20 tokens is that they spam Bitcoin with “junk” unspent transaction outputs, or UTXOs, argues Rodarmor.

BRC-20 tokens have the “undesirable consequence of UTXO proliferation,” he explained in a Sept. 25 blog post, proposing Runes as a UTXO-based alternative.

“Protocols that are UTXO-based fit more naturally into Bitcoin and promote UTXO set minimization by avoiding the creation of ‘junk’ UTXOs.”

“If this protocol had a small on-chain footprint and encouraged responsible UTXO management, it might serve as harm reduction compared to existing protocols,” Rodarmor added.

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