Introduction to Alkanes: Recently, there have been many interesting developments in the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem, one of the main ones being Alkanes, so I dug a bit into this culture! If you are a newcomer, here is a simplified guide to navigating Alkanes.
Just now, the first wallet in the Bitcoin ecosystem, Unisat, supports asset deposits and displays.
WTF are Alkanes? Alkanes are @oylwallet with @AirheadFun.
The team collaborates to build a meta-protocol on Bitcoin L1. It supports smart contract capabilities for Bitcoin. Smart contracts are developed using the Rust programming language and compiled to WebAssembly (WASM), executing encoded Protorunes protocol messages through OP_RETURN outputs, with the structure of these outputs resembling the Runestones of the Rune protocol. Alkanes have unique IDs similar to inscriptions. For example, the ID for $DIESEL is 2:0, $METHANE - 2:16, Alkane Pandas - 2:614.
What can be made using Alkanes? ➯ Decentralized exchanges (DEX) ➯ Decentralized applications (DApp) ➯ Token systems ➯ NFTs through Orbitals ➯ NFT infrastructure ➯ Lending protocols ➯ Stablecoins ➯ Yield aggregators ➯ Derivatives and synthetics ➯ Automated market makers (AMM), etc.
Alkanes Terminology: Before we proceed, it's important to get accustomed to some common terms in Alkanes. ➯ Protorunes: The specification for building Bitcoin meta-protocols to achieve programmability. ➯ Metashrew: An open-source indexing stack that supports Protorunes and provides support for Alkanes smart contracts.
➯ Rust: The programming language used to write and deploy alkane smart contracts. ➯ WebAssembly (WASM): A low-level binary instruction format that enables Alkanes to support complex applications due to its high performance. ➯ Proto Stones: Specific messages in the runes that help handle interactions with alkane smart contracts. ➯ Subfrost: Programmable multi-signatures coordinated by a set of decentralized signing nodes that unpack frBTC back to BTC.
➯ Wallet: The best wallet for Alkanes is @oylwallet, which is the native wallet for builders. @XverseApp is also compatible, but I recommend not using UNISAT for Alkanes, as there have been some reports of the Unisat wallet failing to recognize alkane assets, potentially resulting in the loss of your assets.
Alkanes Tokens: Several tokens have been created using the Alkanes protocol. Here are some of the top-ranking tokens: ➯ $DIESEL: This is the first token launched on Alkanes using the smart contract model. The current market cap is $18.7 million.
➯ $METHANE: $26.6 million MC
➯ $FARTANE: $3 million MC
➯ $BEE: $1.4 million MC
➯ $BUTANE: $697K MC
➯ $CHEEKYB: $326.9K MC
Orbit NFTs can be realized on Alkanes through a comprehensive framework called Orbitals. Through Orbitals, users can generate, deploy, and sell NFTs with customizable renderings. TL-DR: Orbitals are NFTs on Alkanes. The top-ranking collection on Alkanes is: ➯ Alkane Pandas @AlkanePandas: The first experimental series on Alkanes. It has a supply of 10K and was a free airdrop to holders of Wizards of Ord, Orbinauts, Airhead, Methane Token Foundation, Ordinal Penguins, and those who attempted to mint but failed. The current FP is 0.00164 BTC ➯
Oyly @OylyOnAlkanes: This is free minting, and it is randomly minted. It has a supply of 10K, and the current FP is 0.00089 BTC.
Alkanes are still in their early stages as they were introduced a few months ago. There is interest in understanding the long-term sustainability of Alkanes.
