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

As we all know, Ethereum's ERC20 protocol dominates the cryptocurrency field. It not only drives the development of the Ethereum public chain, making it the most widely used smart contract platform, but also paves the way for the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi). In addition, the ERC20 standard has also facilitated the vigorous development of decentralized financing and entrepreneurial activities.

Currently, many emerging public chains are trying to replicate Ethereum's successful model, hoping to establish their own coin standards. To achieve this goal, two key factors are usually needed: first, the new public chain must have a large enough market value to establish a solid foundation; second, its issue coin protocol needs to be innovative, rather than just simply copying ERC20, in order to gain recognition from the crypto community.

In this context, the Runes protocol seems to have the potential to surpass ERC20 and become the new mainstream issue coin standard. Here are several reasons supporting this view:

1. The market capitalization of Bitcoin accounts for about 50% of the entire crypto market, providing a solid foundation for Runes.

2. The fair issuance mechanism of BRC20 inscriptions has been widely recognized by the community.

3. The Runes protocol has been improved based on BRC20, integrating the advantages of both BRC20 and ERC20, while also being an asset protocol based on the Bitcoin mainnet.

The core feature of the Runes protocol is to use the UTXO's op_return to describe operations such as token deployment, minting, and transfer. It allows token issuers to flexibly choose between a completely fair issuance, team reservation, or a combination of both.

Compared to BRC20, Runes are more flexible and support team fundraising; the operation is more convenient, with no need for additional engraving transactions; it also supports batch transactions, improving efficiency.

Compared to ERC20, Runes is built on the Bitcoin network, making its foundation more stable. Although the ERC20 ecosystem is already quite mature, Runes, as an emerging protocol, has greater development potential. In addition, Runes is compatible with the fair issuance mechanism of BRC20, which is an important advantage in the current encryption market.

Although ERC20 has Turing-complete EVM support, Runes can implement complex business logic through Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions. It is reported that some leading BTC L2 projects have stated they will support the Runes protocol.

The Runes protocol provides flexible options for deployment, minting, and transfer. During deployment, the project party can choose to reserve tokens or to issue coins completely fairly. The minting process is constrained by preset conditions, while transfers are carried out via specific UTXOs and op_return information.

Although the Runes protocol has shown great potential, it will take time and support from the ecosystem to truly surpass ERC20 as the mainstream issue coin standard. In the future, as more projects adopt the Runes protocol, we will be able to more clearly assess its status and influence in the crypto market.