Written by: TechFlow
Meme, as its definition states, "has the characteristic of rapid dissemination", and has spread rapidly in various sectors of the crypto ecosystem like wildfire: from celebrity effects, the US election to truth terminals, and meetings at zoos. Every day when you open your eyes (or before you even have time to go to bed), a new meme narrative comes to you every day.
As BTC broke through the historical mark of $100,000, the enthusiasm for the long bull market was ignited again, and some people have begun to notice that in the current era when everything can be a Meme, Bitcoin Meme seems to have become a neglected corner.
Some people may say that most Bitcoin holders still seem to be at the stage of holding, but the unprecedented "national inscription" event in 2023 has already allowed us to see the community's enthusiasm for participating in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Or some people say that Bitcoin has limited scalability and does not support smart contracts. How can it support Meme's asset issuance and high-frequency PvP? Such doubts are obviously outdated. Infrastructure is the main theme of Bitcoin ecology in this cycle. A large number of projects aimed at realizing Bitcoin's native programmable capabilities have emerged. Bbabylon came out of nowhere to bring about the staking narrative, and CKB has steadily achieved scalability. Bitcoin already has the possibility of supporting a more complex ecology.
So, given these prerequisites, is Bitcoin Meme really the next attention battlefield?
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Judging from the market situation, the core builders of the Bitcoin ecosystem have already taken action: in addition to Merlin Chain's slogan of becoming the "core force of Bitcoin Meme", CKB, as a highly-watched Bitcoin second-layer protocol and the originator of the RGB++ concept, has launched its ecological Meme launch platform CKB.FI , which has also made more people have high expectations for the future trends of Bitcoin Meme.
This article aims to get into the essence of the Meme pandemic, and by comparing these essential factors with the Bitcoin ecosystem, explore the prospects of Bitcoin Meme and the key role of RGB++ in promoting Meme to become the traffic entrance of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
According to Coingecko data, the current market value of the Meme track has exceeded 130 billion US dollars. Taking the Solana ecosystem Meme distribution platform Pump.fun as an example, in the eight months since its official launch, Pump.fun has deployed a total of more than 4 million tokens and accumulated transaction fee income of more than 368 million US dollars.
Meme is really popular, and there is no need to elaborate on it. But no craze with a market value of hundreds of billions of yuan is accidental. Behind the popularity of meme, there is a topic worth exploring: when we play meme, what exactly ignites our enthusiasm?
Essentially, Meme is an asset class, but unlike other assets, the Web2 Internet culture and Web3 decentralized rebellious spirit superimposed on Meme create its unique and attractive attributes:
Cultural attributes: eye-catching novel narrative
Infectiousness is the core of Meme, but the infectiousness of Meme does not come from grand narratives. It is more like most black comedy movies that focus on the grassroots. It criticizes current social ills through humorous, interesting and easy-to-digest expressions such as "stalks", self-deprecation and irony, which can not only accurately capture attention, but also further stimulate users' emotional resonance.
Communication attributes: Viral spread based on communities and social media
The highly symbolic content form of Meme itself gives it an outstanding dissemination advantage, and Meme rooted in the community naturally benefits from the spontaneous publicity of the strong community, allowing Meme to further sweep the world at a viral speed. Compared with traditional assets, Meme is driven by the community, and this decentralized dissemination method is both efficient and highly penetrating.
Fairness: The perfect embodiment of the spirit of decentralization
The birth of blockchain stems from people's resistance to centralized finance controlled by institutions. In this cycle where VC Token has disappointed secondary market investors time and time again, the issuance and circulation of Meme completely relies on community consensus. This decentralized feature makes Meme a digital asset that is more in line with the spirit of Web3, and is also seen as an expression of the community's resistance to VC.
Trading attributes: exciting PvP battlefield, risks and opportunities coexist
Although the high volatility of Meme brings risks, it also provides investors with huge potential profit opportunities. In the exciting PvP battlefield, traders' keen market insight and decisive trading decisions are tested, and under the temptation of one wealth-making myth after another, countless people imagine themselves to be the protagonist of the next rich story.
By sorting out the core attributes of Meme, the advantages behind the Meme craze, such as cultural appeal, viral spread, decentralized spirit and huge potential benefits, emerge. Clarifying the underlying logic of Meme's popularity provides us with a clearer argumentation framework for disassembling the advantages of Bitcoin Meme and exploring its potential.
The Neglected Corner: Why You Should Pay Attention to the Bitcoin Meme
In terms of cultural background, I believe no crypto ecosystem dares to compete with Bitcoin.
As the pioneer of encryption, Bitcoin is like the Jerusalem of the encryption world. It symbolizes decentralization, freedom and challenges to the traditional financial system. It is a symbol of decentralized beliefs and values.
The 16-year magnificent development process not only provides countless Meme materials, but also attracts countless geeks, technology enthusiasts and investors to gather and form a unique and active cultural circle. No matter who is Satoshi Nakamoto, 5.22 Pizza Day or Bitcoin enthusiast Trump, the dense memes of Bitcoin ecosystem can always make people smile.
In terms of dissemination properties, there is probably no other crypto ecosystem whose global influence can compare with Bitcoin.
According to on-chain data, the number of Bitcoin wallet addresses has exceeded 500 million, of which more than 50 million wallets hold assets worth at least $1. In the traditional field, many companies including Tesla, Microsoft, and Starbucks have supported Bitcoin payments, and more than 60 listed companies have followed MicroStrategy's example and adopted Bitcoin strategies. As the price of Bitcoin continued to break new highs in November, the search volume and discussion volume about Bitcoin on mainstream social media platforms such as Twitter, Weibo, and Google also surged.
This series of data demonstrates the strong appeal and wide adoption rate of Bitcoin around the world, and the large and active community will undoubtedly lay a solid foundation for the development and widespread dissemination of Bitcoin Meme.
It can be said that the Bitcoin ecosystem has very favorable innate conditions for the development of Memes. In fact, Bitcoin and Memes also have a deep connection.
Going back further, Doge, the original Meme that was discussed by subway aunties in 2021, was inspired by Bitcoin. In 2013, Adobe software engineer Jackson Palmer and IBM software engineer Billy Markus built Doge based on the UTXO transaction framework, aiming to demonstrate the improvement of Bitcoin through Doge and realize a cryptocurrency that is easier to obtain, more practical, and more interesting than Bitcoin. Today, Doge has grown into an absolute dragon project in the Meme track.
Looking more closely, the "national inscription" craze set off by the Bitcoin ecosystem in 2023, in the eyes of many people, the inscriptions that also emphasize the principle of fair issuance are an evolved variant of Meme. The inscription boom not only ignited people's enthusiasm for participating in the Bitcoin ecosystem, but also pushed Bitcoin to start large-scale ecological infrastructure. The most well-known is the Web3 wallet under the leading exchange OKX, which became an instant hit with its silky inscription experience.
In addition, CKB, a long-established public chain known for its technology, also keenly noticed the mismatch between the enthusiasm of the Bitcoin market and the backward infrastructure. It achieved Bitcoin's native scalability by launching the isomorphic binding RGB++ extension protocol, and built a series of Bitcoin ecological infrastructure products based on the extension protocol, including the encrypted wallet JoyID combined with Passkey key management, which users can use without any blockchain knowledge; Bitcoin-based programmable stablecoins USDI and RUSD products provide a bridge for BTCFi to stabilize value; a series of native trading platforms UTXOSwap, Omiga, Dobby, etc., effectively solved the problems of poor liquidity of BTC ecological assets and high transaction costs at the time, etc., which not only greatly improved the user experience of participating in the Bitcoin ecosystem at the time, but also laid a solid foundation for the future development of Meme.
More importantly, the key to making money in the meme race is to ambush and pay attention in advance when no one is paying attention, and the Bitcoin meme, which is currently ignored, has become the target of ambush by keen meme hunters.
Solana, as the main meme platform in this cycle, has recently shown signs of fatigue. A large influx of users has brought about serious PVP involution, and more and more people have lost money and left the market. In the past month, Base Meme has emerged, and Virtuals and Clanker have successively created multiple hits, which not only made early ambushers earn a lot of money, but also brought an obvious Meme revelation:
If you lay an ambush before attention is focused, you will not be so crowded and have a better chance of getting better returns.
Today, according to Artemis data, Base has a net inflow of more than $750 million in the past month. Obviously, the profit space for ambushing Base is rapidly narrowing. Following the inspirational logic of "early ambush, high returns" and the meme development experience of Pump.fun for Solana and Virtuals for Base, as long as a complete infrastructure and launch platform are built, Bitcoin Meme, which has a deep meme cultural heritage but has not yet received much attention, will have a great probability of taking over Base and becoming the next meme main position.
So, the story script of the Bitcoin Meme craze has been written, who will be the one to build the infrastructure and set the stage?
Bitcoin Meme Asset Issuance, Why is RGB++ the Optimal Solution?
Again, Meme is essentially an asset class, so the way Bitcoin assets are issued becomes a prerequisite for the outbreak of Bitcoin Meme.
Due to Bitcoin's very limited scripting language, it is not easy to implement Bitcoin-native asset issuance and give it complex transaction rules and contracts . Over the past decade, solutions to this problem have continued to evolve until CKB was inspired by RGB and launched the innovative RGB++ extension protocol. Only then did the Bitcoin asset issuance method that combines nativeness and flexibility become the most widely accepted implementation idea.
Colored coins are widely regarded by the community as the earliest exploration of Bitcoin asset issuance . Although this scheme can achieve the mapping of different assets in the real world, due to the functional limitations of Bitcoin, colored coins cannot support Turing-complete smart contract scripts.
For a long time afterwards, most asset issuance in the Bitcoin ecosystem adopted the sidechain anchoring Bitcoin solution . This method of replacing Bitcoin with a sidechain through a two-way peg has sufficient flexibility, but the sidechain is essentially an independent chain. Even if it is anchored to Bitcoin, it is not directly related to BTC. It is not only not native, but also has security risks. It has not been widely recognized for a long time.
On October 19, 2023, Lightning Labs, the developer of the Lightning Network, announced that the launch of the Taproot Assets protocol was seen as a milestone in the issuance of Bitcoin assets . Taproot Assets supports anyone to issue any token based on Bitcoin, but unfortunately, the solution does not support complex smart contracts, which also brings huge limitations to the introduction of more complex gameplay for assets.
The Ordinal asset issuance method represented by the inscription and its variants such as BRC-20, ARC-20, and Runes have led the Bitcoin ecosystem boom under the impetus of SegWit and Taproot . In simple terms, the Ordinal protocol implements the issuance of Bitcoin native assets by assigning a unique identifier to the smallest unit of Bitcoin, 2,100 trillion satoshis, and writing information to each satoshi.
However, due to the block speed and capacity limitations of Bitcoin itself, this asset issuance method still has limitations such as poor scalability.
In early 2023, when inscriptions began to emerge, CKB, which has always been very interested in the Bitcoin ecosystem, noticed the various limitations caused by Bitcoin's backward performance and non-Turing completeness, and started the design of RGB++ under the inspiration of the RGB protocol, aiming to achieve Bitcoin's native scalability and programmability.
The core idea of RGB is simply to put asset issuance and contract logic off-chain, and through two major technical innovations, client verification and one-time sealing, bind off-chain behavior to UTXO changes on the Bitcoin chain. Since UTXO records the consensus of transaction events and processes, this binding relationship also enables off-chain asset issuance to inherit the strong security of Bitcoin.
During this process, users need to run the client themselves and verify the asset changes related to themselves. However, since most ordinary users do not have the ability to save all historical transactions, this creates a data island problem. In addition, due to various limitations of the virtual machine AluVM used by RGB, RGB has not been able to support complete contract functions so far.
The core idea of RGB++ for reconstructing RGB can be simply summarized in four words: isomorphic binding.
First, the client operation and verification work originally undertaken by the user is handed over to CKB. This solution, in which Bitcoin is the main chain and CKB acts as a shadow chain, and the two are bidirectionally bound through UTXO and Cell, not only inherits Bitcoin's strong security foundation, but also solves the global verifiability problem of RGB. More importantly, CKB uses the CKB-VM virtual machine to bring powerful smart contract capabilities, making the RGB++ protocol a cradle for incubating Bitcoin's native Meme .
In July this year, RGB++ was upgraded to RGB++ Layer, aiming to play an important role in the Bitcoin asset issuance layer from a more global perspective. It not only supports isomorphic binding between any blockchains built on the UTXO ledger model, including Cardano, Dogecoin, BSV and BCH, etc., but also supports multiple types of assets such as FT and NFT, making asset issuance more in line with actual needs.
It is worth mentioning that the news that RGB++ is about to support Doge has attracted widespread attention recently: Doge has long lacked a strong on-chain ecosystem, and with the support of RGB++, Doge will be upgraded from Meme Coin to Meme Chain. Users can issue any type of assets on Dogechain, and through RGB++'s bridgeless cross-chain Leap, Lightning Networks compatibility and other features, Doge users can trade in a cheaper, faster and more seamless way.
With the deepening integration of the advantages of the RGB++ series and Doge's millions of users and tens of billions of US dollars in market value, Doge will further become the preferred platform for Meme projects and further prosper the Bitcoin Meme ecosystem.
Thanks to the advantages of the UTXO model, RGB++ Layer can create a new paradigm for asset issuance, supporting the issuance of the same asset on multiple chains at the same time, with different proportions on each chain. This not only achieves coordination and unification between different chains, but also provides asset issuers with a high degree of flexibility.
RGB++ Layer is also introducing a new asset issuance model called IBO (Initial Bitcoin Offering), which supports the creation of a funding pool directly on UTXOSwap, enabling newly issued assets to be traded with high liquidity.
In our previous article " Comparison of the Four Major Bitcoin Scaling Solutions: Who Will Really Unleash the Trillion-Dollar Market Potential of BTCFi? ", we also introduced in detail the operating logic of RGB++ Layer and its specific advantages in asset issuance. Interested readers can read it again.
Through RGB++, we have seen a more widely supported, natively programmable, interoperable, simpler, more efficient, and more open and transparent asset issuance method in the Bitcoin ecosystem, which will also be the infrastructure foundation for the Bitcoin Meme explosion.
As the infrastructure becomes more complete, the focus of Bitcoin Meme development begins to focus on specific innovative gameplay.
Unleashing trading innovation: How does RGB++ enable more advanced Meme gameplay based on BTCFi?
How can we more efficiently transform RGB++'s specific advantages in asset issuance into more innovative gameplay and better experience?
The first focus is the launch platform.
The launch of Pump.fun in April 2024 pushed Solana Meme to a climax, and then major public chain ecosystems followed suit. Whether it was TRON’s SunPump, BSC’s Four.Meme , or Base’s popular Virtuals and Clanker, historical experience has proven time and again that the launch platform plays an important catalytic role in the development of Meme.
In the face of the imminent explosion of Bitcoin Meme, CKB.Fi , the CKB Meme launch platform that competes with Pump.fun and Virtuals, is a forward-looking layout of the CKB ecosystem, aiming to become the "Meme blockbuster manufacturing machine" of the future Bitcoin ecosystem.
Rooted in the Meme culture of the Bitcoin ecosystem and possessing the advantages of RGB++ asset issuance, another highlight of CKB.Fi 's Meme asset issuance is its deep integration with Twitter, the best encrypted social media platform.
There are two ways for users to issue Memes: one is to issue directly based on CKB.Fi , and the launch can be completed by filling in the information in a few simple steps; the other is to issue based on Twitter, where users can quote a tweet on Twitter as the Meme content source, and then fill in the token-related information based on the content. After the qualified tweets are detected, the bonding creation will be completed on CKB.FI. CKB.FI Twitter will restore the corresponding bonding link to the author to officially complete the launch, and then the tokens will be distributed through Twitter Followers to complete the cold start of the community.
As we all know, Twitter has become the largest distribution center for Meme information. CKB.Fi 's innovative Meme issuance and distribution method based on Twitter is not only conducive to the discovery and preservation of valuable content and the accumulation of cultural value for Meme projects, but also the integration of social gameplay is conducive to the sustainable dissemination and promotion of Meme projects.
Creator incentives are another core feature of CKB.Fi. 6.9% is allocated to token initiators and their Twitter followers. This distribution ratio effectively avoids the existence of insider trading on the one hand, and can better motivate more people to participate in Meme creation on the other hand. In addition, creators can use part of it to motivate their fans, which further brings social attributes to Meme gameplay and promotes Meme to be spread more widely with billions of Twitter users.
With a fair, low-threshold, and highly communicable launch platform, RGB++'s series of advantages will also introduce more complex, innovative, and meme-valuable gameplay to the issued Meme assets.
As a Meme asset issuance solution, at a time when most Memes are eventually going to zero, Memes issued based on RGB++ will theoretically never go to zero. This is because the CKB blockchain adopts a unique value capture mechanism, which requires the storage and operation of on-chain data to lock CKB tokens, that is, the issuance of RGB++ Meme will occupy a corresponding number of CKB tokens according to the size of the asset, which injects value support into Meme and completely distinguishes it from purely hyped Memes: when users still like this Meme or there is still room for profit, the Meme will continue to exist; and when users do not like this Meme or there is no room for profit, users can choose to destroy the Meme to redeem the locked CKB tokens.
In terms of trading experience, assets are created based on CKB, which has an average block time of about 10 seconds and very low handling fees. Under normal circumstances, one CKB can pay the miner fees required for more than 5,000 transfers, which brings efficiency and cost optimization, and solves the inherent problems of Bitcoin transactions such as long time, low efficiency, and high cost.
More importantly, CKB is Turing complete, which not only means that CKB can design more complex conditional execution and business logic for Meme gameplay, which makes Bitcoin Meme have the possibility of deeper gameplay, but also CKB itself has the ability to build a rich ecosystem. The CKB ecosystem includes wallets, DEX, DID, stablecoin protocols, GameFi, SocialFi and other modules, and is expanding through active ecological cooperation. This means that Meme assets can also participate in it as income tools, such as Meme staking, Meme lending, Meme on-chain identity system construction and social networking, etc., and are more deeply integrated with other parts of the ecosystem to help its holders earn more income.
In addition to better experience and richer ecological gameplay, unlike the current isolated development of the Meme ecosystems of major public chains, the Meme asset issuance and transactions supported by RGB++ have stronger aggregation and interoperability.
Thanks to the UTXO model, RGB++ not only supports the issuance of assets on all UTXO model blockchains, but also, as mentioned above, issuers can issue the same asset in different proportions on multiple chains according to their specific business needs. It can also seamlessly interact between multiple chains through the RGB++ Layer bridgeless cross-chain (Leap). Without the need for a cross-chain bridge, assets on the UTXO chain can be easily transferred to another UTXO chain.
In this way, RGB++ brings a unified asset issuance standard to all UTXO model blockchains, which not only makes asset issuance and management more intuitive and flexible, but also makes asset transactions more secure and seamless. Multi-chain users, funds and liquidity including Cardano, Dogecoin, BSV, BCH, DogeChain, etc. can be further integrated, giving Meme a richer ecological scenario, a wider range of users and deeper liquidity.
Currently, CKB.Fi ’s product btc.finance, which expands the existing Meme issuance mechanism to BTC based on RGB++, is nearing completion. In the future, it will also develop a issuance platform on DogeChain through RGB++ to release the Meme economic potential on the Meme (BTC) and Meme Chain (DogeChain) with the largest consensus.
Another very intuitive example of the deep integration of Meme and ecology is Fiber Network:
As a L2 network based on CKB, Fiber Network aims to achieve programmable expansion of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Its initial functions are similar to those of the Lightning Network. It aims to become a high-performance, low-cost micro-transaction payment network with greater flexibility and efficiency in liquidity management.
However, the birth of Fiber Network is not intended to replace Lightning Network, but to work with Lightning Network to further enrich the possibilities of Bitcoin ecology: Unlike Lightning Network which focuses on BTC single currency, Fiber Network can support all assets issued based on RGB++ protocol.
Fiber Network and Lightning Network have UTXO technology isomorphism, and the two naturally have cross-chain atomic swap capabilities. This combination of "Bitcoin-level security + Ethereum-level functionality + Lightning Network-level speed" will not only pave the way for the large-scale popularization of the Lightning Network, but also introduce infinite imagination to the development of BTCFi. As an important traffic entrance and asset category in the Bitcoin ecosystem, Meme is bound to derive more innovative gameplay in richer BTCFi scenarios.
Talking without doing is just empty talk. In fact, the Meme of CKB ecosystem has already shown signs of rising.
At the end of November, Seal, the leading asset in the RGB++ ecosystem, had a 430% increase in seven days, triggering a wide-ranging discussion on the potential of the Bitcoin Meme ecosystem. It is reported that Seal will become the first RGB++ asset supported by the Fiber Network. Seal holders can participate in Lightning-based BTCFi, such as decentralized liquidity lending, leading the next development direction of Bitcoin native financial services.
In addition, CKB Meme launch platform CKB.Fi is also developing Pump.fun- like products based on BTC and DOGE, which not only optimizes the issuance of Meme assets but also enriches asset trading methods, which has also triggered concentrated discussions in the community.
From the inscription craze to the present, the Bitcoin ecosystem has been open for a long time, and Meme is regarded as an important traffic entrance for more incremental users to enter the Bitcoin ecosystem. From the perspective of Meme characteristics, whether from the historical origin, cultural attributes or ecological potential, the development of Bitcoin Meme has great potential. The emergence of RGB++ further fills the difficulties of Bitcoin Meme in asset issuance and asset trading, bringing a solution that is both native and programmable.
As CKB continues to improve its product matrix around RGB++, and as the meme launch platform CKB.Fi continues to iterate, will the next meme hit be born in the Bitcoin ecosystem?
The meme cycle continues, please stay tuned.
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