Fractal Bitcoin is a Bitcoin scaling solution that aims to gradually expand the Bitcoin blockchain into a scalable computing system without destroying the consistency with the Bitcoin main chain.
As a pioneer in blockchain, Bitcoin has always been lacking in "scalability", such as block storage space and other aspects, which has hindered its potential to become a global payment network and smart contract platform.
Specifically, the main problems include its block size limited to 1MB, which leads to limited transaction capacity; the time to generate a block every 10 minutes prolongs the corresponding confirmation time; the complex and restricted Bitcoin scripting language makes it difficult to develop other smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) on it.
These issues lead to network congestion and high transaction fees, limiting Bitcoinâs scalability. According to the mempool and Bitcoin Median Transaction Value chart, high on-chain transaction fees in the Bitcoin ecosystem can hinder new users. For example, in April 2024, on-chain fees soared to around $300.
In order to solve these problems, the industry has been exploring ways to improve the performance of the Bitcoin network, and Fractal Bitcoin was born in this context.
Based on the above industry pain points, Fractal Bitcoin is committed to creating an expansion solution that can be seamlessly integrated into the Bitcoin ecosystem, which does not require major modifications to the Bitcoin core protocol and can significantly improve network performance.
In general, the idea of ââFractal Bitcoin is to recursively create infinite expansion layers on the Bitcoin main chain to improve transaction processing capabilities and speed, while maintaining full compatibility with the existing Bitcoin ecosystem. Its core idea is to use the core code of Bitcoin itself to create a tree-like expansion structure, each layer can be further expanded, thereby greatly improving the parallel processing capabilities of the entire network.
First, they used a set of "virtualized core" technology to encapsulate the core of Bitcoin in a "super chip" called BCSP (Bitcoin Core Software Package). Unlike traditional sharding technology, BCSP does not need to rely on central control to coordinate the work of each part. Operating through a distributed network, the BCSP system is much more efficient in processing computing tasks than running a single node or instance. In this way, Fractal Bitcoin realizes the virtualization of the blockchain, making the main chain more stable and without the need to change the consensus mechanism.
Next, Fractal Bitcoin worked on consensus consistency. Consensus consistency means that Bitcoin's lasting consensus is maintained by developers, miners, and users, forming the basis of its stability. Fractal Bitcoin enhances this consensus by reusing existing code, avoiding divergences that usually lead to forks. And as the number of virtualized instances increases, the consensus becomes more robust, in sync with the Bitcoin network growing from a single node to thousands of nodes.
Then, using a self-replicating approach, Fractal Bitcoin achieves infinite scalability through recursive instantiation of BCSP, ensuring that multiple instances coexist, communicate, and coordinate while maintaining structural balance and engineering simplicity while scaling horizontally and vertically. Existing infrastructure (such as wallets) can easily support these new instances, similar to the Ethereum infrastructure that supports networks such as Polygon and BSC.
As for response speed, BCSP can shorten the block confirmation time to 30 seconds. Such a fast confirmation mechanism increases storage space and reduces the complexity of system development, thereby reducing transaction costs and improving the writing efficiency of Ordinals, increasing transaction processing capacity to 20 times that of the Bitcoin main chain.
Regarding bridging, Fractal Bitcoin uses a method similar to "cross-layer elevators", using the Elevator interface to support direct and consistent asset transfers between layers, and using mechanisms such as discrete log contracts to achieve seamless transfers without the need for additional relays. This method can also support a variety of asset transfer needs between Bitcoin and other blockchains.
As for mining, Fractal Bitcoin uses the same PoW consensus mechanism as Bitcoin. BTC miners can seamlessly switch to Fractal block mining with current ASICs, GPUs and other existing hardware, and provide an original merged mining mechanism, Cadence Mining, which combines the two mining modes of permissionless mining and merged mining. Every 3 blocks is a cycle, of which 2 blocks are generated through "permissionless mining" and 1 block is generated through "merge mining".
In addition, the team claims that all transactions can ultimately be traced back to the Bitcoin main chain, and security and verifiability can also be ensured.
Currently, Fractal Bitcoin is still in the testnet stage, and the team announced that the mainnet will be launched on September 9. In addition, the team also announced the token economics. The total supply is 105 million.
As shown in the figure, the team designed to allocate half of the total token supply to proof-of-work (PoW) mining, closely aligning Fractal with Bitcoin's security model. 15% of the tokens are reserved for the ecosystem treasury, which is dedicated to investing in the Fractal ecosystem. Only 5% of the tokens are used for pre-sale, targeting early investors and network participants. This portion of tokens is locked for seven months and will be released linearly until twelve months. Another 5% of the tokens are currently reserved for advisors, and 10% of the tokens will be allocated to community grants for establishing partnerships and liquidity programs. Finally, the remaining 15% of the tokens are allocated to core contributors who build and maintain Fractal's core software.
In addition, the current Fractal Bitcoin ecosystem has also developed, for example:
UniSat Wallet: Allows quick switching between Bitcoin Mainnet and Fractal Assets.
UniSatExplorer: Query Bitcoin Mainnet and Fractal Network.
UniSat API: Provides a unified API interface.
Fractal Testnet: Currently open for testing.
For ecosystem construction, the team hopes that users can obtain digital identities through Fractal DID, link to UniWorlds, and create personal digital spaces. This will support asset issuance, DeFi transactions, SocialFi releases, and the transition from Web2 to Web3. All activities will benefit from the security of the Bitcoin network and run at a lower cost through the Fractal network.
In addition, Unisat, the development team behind Fractal Bitcoin, is also worth mentioning. Lorenzo, the founder and CEO of UniSat, has been actively involved in the crypto field since 2018, especially in Bitcoin-related development and research. The entire team is composed of developers who are proficient in Bitcoin technologies such as SegWit, Lightning Network, and TapRoot. The team's previous projects have also achieved good results in the brc20 trading market, and the issued token $PIZZA has also performed well in the market and has been the focus of Binance and OKX.
In short, the ideal solution for Bitcoin expansion is to upgrade to Layer 1, which is the most challenging path. Based on this, in the words of the founder of UniSat himself: "If other L2 and side chains are to build another highway, then Fractal can build countless highways parallel to the Bitcoin main network." Fractal Bitcoin's product ideas and logic of "perfect compatibility with BTC, enhanced block storage space, improved network transaction processing capabilities, and improved scalability" are tenable. However, as the founder said, Fractal Bitcoin still faces certain challenges. Fractal still faces the possibility of 51% attack, bridging technology and other risks. As for the future, let us wait and see the launch of its test network.
