Can the Runes protocol become the mainstream issue coin standard in the crypto market?

As we all know, the Ethereum ERC20 protocol occupies an important position in the crypto market, making a significant contribution to the prosperity of the Ethereum ecosystem. The ERC20 protocol not only propelled Ethereum to become a mainstream development platform but also paved the way for the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi), while also promoting the development of decentralized financing and entrepreneurship.

However, with the continuous evolution of the crypto market, new public chain projects are emerging one after another, all seeking to replicate Ethereum's successful model to create their own coin standards. To stand out in this competitive field, new public chains need to have two key elements: first, a sufficiently large market capitalization to establish a solid foundation; second, an innovative issue coin protocol to gain recognition from users and the community.

In this context, the Runes protocol demonstrates potential beyond ERC20. Its advantages are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

1. Bitcoin, as the underlying foundation, holds over 50% of the total market value of encryption, providing a solid foundation for Runes.

2. Runes inherits the innovative concept of BRC20 inscriptions, adopting a fair launch mechanism and gaining widespread support from the community.

3. As an asset protocol on the BTC mainnet, Runes integrates the advantages of BRC20 and ERC20, providing users with more options.

The core feature of the Runes protocol is the use of the op_return field in UTXO to record operation information such as token deployment, minting, and transfer. It supports various token issuance models, allowing for a completely fair launch similar to BRC20, as well as setting aside reserved shares for the team to meet the needs of different projects.

Compared to BRC20, Runes has improved both flexibility and convenience. It not only supports team fundraising but also simplifies the transfer process, avoiding additional engraving transactions, thus reducing network burden and user costs. In addition, Runes also supports batch transfer functionality, enhancing transaction efficiency.

In comparison with ERC20, although Runes lacks a mature ecosystem, it has stronger underlying support and greater development potential. With the development of BTC Layer2 solutions, Runes is expected to achieve smart contract functionality similar to Ethereum, thereby building a complete business closed loop.

The Runes protocol is also meticulously designed in terms of technical details. It achieves the deployment, minting, and transfer of runes by constructing specific op_return transactions. The launch method can be flexibly set during deployment, including full control by the project party, completely fair launch, or a hybrid model. This design ensures fairness while reserving appropriate space for the project party.

Although the Runes protocol has shown great potential, whether it can ultimately surpass ERC20 to become the mainstream issue coin standard still needs to be tested by time and recognized by the market. In the future, with the addition of more projects and continuous improvements in technology, Runes is expected to occupy an important position in the crypto market ecosystem.