The Impact of the Ethereum ERC20 Protocol and the Rise of New Coin Issuance Protocols

The Ethereum ERC20 protocol, as the most widely used token standard in the cryptocurrency field, has had a profound impact on the entire industry. It not only propelled Ethereum to become a mainstream smart contract platform but also laid the foundation for the development of decentralized finance (DeFi), while also facilitating the formation of a decentralized financing and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

However, with the continuous development of the cryptocurrency market, emerging public chains are seeking their own breakthroughs, attempting to replicate Ethereum's successful model. To stand out in a highly competitive market, new public chains typically need to meet two key conditions: first, they must have a sufficiently large market capitalization to ensure the platform's stability and credibility; second, they need to innovate in their issue coin protocol to gain recognition from users and the community.

In this context, the Runes protocol, as an emerging issue coin standard, demonstrates potential that surpasses ERC20. The Runes protocol is built on the Bitcoin network, inheriting the advantage of Bitcoin as the leader in cryptocurrency market capitalization. At the same time, it absorbs the innovative concept of BRC20 inscriptions and has further improved and optimized it on this basis.

The core feature of the Runes protocol is the use of the UTXO's op_return field to record operational information such as token deployment, minting, and transfers. This design retains the characteristics of fair launches of BRC20 while being compatible with the flexible token distribution mechanism of ERC20, providing more options for project parties.

Compared to BRC20, the Runes protocol has significant advantages in flexibility, convenience, and efficiency. It not only supports team reservations and financing but also simplifies the token transfer process, reducing network burden and user costs. Additionally, the Runes protocol supports batch transfers, further improving transaction efficiency.

Compared to ERC20, the Runes protocol, although lacking a mature ecosystem, is built on the Bitcoin network and has a more solid value foundation. At the same time, as an emerging protocol, Runes has greater development potential and market appeal. It is worth noting that some Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions have already begun to support the Runes protocol, which will provide it with a broader application scenario.

The Runes protocol has also been carefully designed in terms of technical details. It implements functions such as token deployment, reservation, minting, and transfer through a specific op_return structure, providing project parties and users with flexible and diverse operational choices.

Overall, the Runes protocol, as an innovative issue coin standard, combines the stability of the Bitcoin network, the fairness of BRC20, and the flexibility of ERC20, demonstrating the potential to become the next generation mainstream issue coin protocol. With the continuous development of the cryptocurrency market, the Runes protocol is expected to occupy an important position in future competitions.