What You Should Know About BitVM

For this week's Writer's Room, Charlie and Colin talk about the comeback of memecoins (and why the mania will probably not come to bitcoin) and Swan Bitcoin's mining lawsuit.

Alkimiya, recovering ordinals prices, and ord 0.20.1 is out! Charlie reviews the ordinals & bitcoin season 2 news + metrics.

Chad Masterson riffs with Charlie about the long and storied history of ordinals metaprotocols, token schemes, and how the OPNET team is shipping an indexer-side smart contract system *without a token*.

Charlie and Colin focus on Fractal Bitcoin, a new sidechain from Unisat. They discuss its unique consensus mechanism that combines merged and “permissionless” mining, raising concerns about centralization and scalability as the blockchain grows.

Charlie Spears discusses the trend combining Bitcoin mining with speculative elements from NFTs, ordinals, and sidechains. He highlights how Bitcoin mining has evolved beyond its traditional scope, now has a distinct "degen" component.

Over time, UTXO expanded into publicly traded Bitcoin miners and products, eventually investing in ordinals and exploring native yield opportunities on Bitcoin's layer 2s. He notes the firm's forward-thinking approach in helping clients navigate Bitcoin’s financialization, as well as how ordinals marked a significant shift in the ecosystem.

Bablyon's now live - what's next for the chain? Enter SatLayer, a restaking protocol for Bitcoin.

We're highlighting a shift in venture capital interest toward Bitcoin, indicating that funds traditionally allocated to the broader crypto landscape are now increasingly flowing into Bitcoin projects. Significant investment rounds, with notable recent raises amounting to over $100 million in the past year suggest a growing confidence in Bitcoin-specific ventures.

Lorenzo, the founder of Unisat, describes his journey from working in the gaming to building the most dominant company in Ordinals. He reflects on how his background as a game programmer fueled his interest in creating vast, interconnected digital universes, which eventually led him to explore blockchain technology.