According to PANews, the current bull market in the cryptocurrency sector has not yet seen the emergence of a replicable application model. Unlike the ICO boom of 2017 and the DeFi surge in 2020, the market is still waiting for the next big trend. However, there have been numerous attempts at new types of asset issuance models, including new asset protocols on Bitcoin (Inscription, Atomicals, RGB/RGB++), inscription protocols on various chains, Meme Coin, SFT, and others.
The first point to note is that Bitcoin's Inscription has validated the concept of defining asset data on-chain, with legality verification off-chain. This suggests a new method of asset issuance and scalability. All protocols derived from Bitcoin, including RGB/RGB++, Atomicals, fall under this paradigm, which can be referred to as client-side validation. This type of asset sits between L1 and Offchain (L2), and can define a bridge within a protocol, enabling asset migration from L1 to Offchain. This has been preliminarily validated by the RGB++ protocol.
This model differs from Ethereum's ecosystem paradigm. The application scenarios for assets are no longer limited to the smart contract environment provided by L1, but can be provided through the Offchain smart contract environment, eliminating technical bottlenecks in application development.
The second point is the validation of an application launch model where assets are issued first. The traditional method involves building an application, attracting users, and then issuing assets. The new asset issuance model aims to issue assets first, build a community, and then develop applications based on the community to provide use cases for the assets. This model has been preliminarily validated in terms of attracting users and building communities, but application launch still needs exploration.
Despite the challenges, the advantages of this model are clear. Assets are issued first, and applications are derived from the assets, not the other way around. This ensures the lifecycle of the asset exceeds that of the application. Only in this model can the same asset be used in multiple applications, a key differentiator for blockchain applications compared to Web2 applications. Under this model, application teams do not need to issue assets, but can profit by providing scenarios for the assets, thereby solving the compliance issues faced by Web2 application development teams.
The combination of these two exploratory directions will lead to the emergence of a large number of assets and applications, signaling the arrival of a true bull market.
