Author: Climber, Golden Finance
The Fractal Bitcoin project recently launched by UniSat has become the focus of community attention. As a Bitcoin expansion solution, its ecological projects and tokens have also been explored and sought after by early investors, such as FLUX, PizzaSwap, Wukong, etc. The hottest new project in the past two days is the CAT20 token protocol, which also helps Fractal Bitcoin bring traffic to the BTC ecosystem again.
CAT20 is a token protocol launched by CAT Protocol, a Fractal network project. Once it came out, the community rushed to mint it. When the interaction density was the highest, the transaction fees of Fractal Bitcoin's main network soared, and the fees of multiple blocks once exceeded 5,000 Sat/byte.
At present, the total amount of tokens set by CAT Protocol has been almost exhausted, and it took only two days from the explosion to the end. However, community members have different opinions on this new project. Some believe that CAT will have high returns, while others say that it will not have much value like the previous flood of runes and inscriptions.
A mysterious but popular experimental project
Since September 12, the CAT20 protocol has been widely discussed on social platforms, with various promotions and tutorials. In particular, UniSat added a "CAT20" column to the Fractal Bitcoin block browser, further boosting the enthusiasm for Cat20 mint and the surge in on-chain Gas.
The CAT Protocol sets the total number of tokens at 21 million. The tokens that were originally planned to be minted in three to four days were also minted ahead of schedule due to the popularity and the increase in new listing platforms. Currently, there are more than 40,000 CAT holders, and multiple platforms support data query functions such as Cat20 progress and holders.
Previously, community members calculated that the Fractal network fee level was around 1800-2000 during the peak mint period, and the cost of minting one was about 2 USDT. However, this still did not stop the enthusiasm of the participants, which indirectly led to the price of Fractal Bitcoin's project FB rising from US$20 to around US$35.
So what exactly is the CAT Protocol that has caused such a huge FOMO among the community?
According to the CAT Protocol official website, it is a new UTXO-based Bitcoin token protocol launched on Fractal Bitcoin, called Covenant Attested Token (CAT). The protocol is verified by miners and uses smart contracts to manage the minting and transfer of tokens. Compared with all existing token protocols on Bitcoin, it is only enforced by the Bitcoin script on layer 1.
In the context of Bitcoin, Covenant refers to a mechanism that can impose restrictions on how future transactions involving a specific set of currencies can be used. Covenants are essentially restrictions or rules embedded in Bitcoin transactions that are designed to control the conditions under which currencies can be transferred or used. For example, they can restrict the addresses to which currencies can be sent, or require certain scripts to be included in future transactions.
A straightforward way to add Covenant would be to introduce a new opcode in BIP 119, such as OP_CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY (CTV).
The main features of CAT Protocol include:
No Indexer Required: The token’s ruleset is secured by Bitcoin consensus. Token data and logic reside on-chain. It does not rely on any off-chain third party (such as an Indexer) to function. There is no risk of Indexer inconsistency, and the CAT token inherits the native Bitcoin proof-of-work security.
Modularity: Because CAT tokens can be validated in scripts, they can be used in other smart contracts and combined into more complex and interconnected decentralized applications such as automated market makers (AMMs), lending, and staking. The modularity and composability of CAT tokens provide a powerful and versatile new building block for expanding the scope of Bitcoin.
Programmable Minting: Token minting rules are not enforced by Indexers, but rather by minting smart contracts. These customizable and flexible contracts allow token issuers to specify arbitrary minting rules, including open minting. Over-minting transactions will be rejected directly by the network, rather than being rejected at the Indexer and will not be mined.
Cross-chain interoperability: The CAT protocol allows trustless asset bridging between different blockchains, enabling applications to run across multiple blockchains.
SPV Compatible: CAT tokens support Simplified Payment Verification (SPV). Light clients (such as mobile phones) can independently verify the authenticity of tokens without trusting any central server. Similar to Bitcoin, token transactions deep enough in the blockchain can be considered valid by light clients.
The CAT protocol supports both fungible tokens (known as the CAT20 standard) and non-fungible tokens (known as the CAT721 standard). The technology developed here is general and can be applied to use cases beyond tokens.
As of the time of writing, no more background information about CAT Protocol has been released, but some community members have found a high degree of similarity between CAT Protocol and the OP_CAT project team’s sCrypt Official website documents after comparing them.
However, the CAT Protocol project has already stated on its official website that the CAT Protocol is an experimental project and there is no guarantee that the tokens created using the protocol will have any value or utility. Users should act with caution and conduct their own research before using it.
OTC trading is active, but community views are mixed
Community members have very different opinions on the popularity of CAT-20. Some regard its token CAT as the next ORDI, while others believe that it is not valuable and is just for retail investors to contribute to FB.
A community member @Di2023D posted a picture showing that CAT's current over-the-counter trading is very active, a phenomenon similar to that of ORDI.
A foreign KOL @Pentaeth said that the over-the-counter price of CAT continues to rise and is currently close to US$3 per piece. He is optimistic about the future of CAT and believes that it has a 100-fold potential.
Currently, there are many opinions in the community that share the same views as the above two people. However, there are still KOLs who are not optimistic about the future development of CAT.
KOL @jacksu88 said that the so-called first token CAT on the Fractal Bitcoin network is likely to end up like the Atom and Pipe protocols that no one is willing to take over. Some people started to rush CAT before it was officially minted, and many later participants were influenced by fomo. Projects controlled by bookmakers are not fair.
KOL@Greta0086 said that the Bitcoin ecosystem is basically composed of Chinese projects, and the Chinese side of the Fractal Ecosystem is not much different from other Chinese side projects, so there won’t be many people who will take over.
Another KOL @123123crypto believes that CAT Protocol is attached to a copy-paste fork chain of Bitcoin, Fractal Bitcoin, but it has no mainstream consensus and no representative projects, and it is unlikely to achieve much in the future. Its status is equivalent to that of Ethreum classic, and its future development is limited. It is obviously unreasonable that CAT20 is attached to such a fork chain with no mainstream consensus and no representative projects, and its current market value is only 10 million US dollars.
From the analysis of the above community members, it can be seen that CAT Protocol does have many doubts. If you are not an early participant, then subsequent investors need to pay more attention to project risks.
summary
The popularity of CAT20 has left many people with no time to react. They were left behind while still trying to figure out how to mint and hesitating about gas fees. Later comers can only obtain it from the sidelines at a higher cost. Despite many doubts and bearish views on CAT Protocol in the community, it still cannot resist the enthusiasm of participants. From the early scientists who minted the website by hand to the frequent emergence of proxy platforms, it proves that the project has once again attracted a huge amount of attention to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
