Fractal Bitcoin managed to mine its first block and officially launched its mainnet after carrying out the final tests in July 2024. As a curious fact, it compressed the message published by Satoshi Nakamoto in the genesis block of the Bitcoin chain into said first historical block.
According to explained the company, This network will provide less expensive transactions and a block confirmation time of 60 seconds or less.. Additionally, it will multiply the data storage size of blocks by ten compared to the size of the original Bitcoin network.
The network is a sidechain Bitcoin, a sidechain that uses the Bitcoin Core core code. That is, Fractal Bitcoin takes the technological base of BTC without modifying its consensus proofs (Proof of Work or PoW) and the security of the network, but adding a scalability solution imposed by recursive virtualization technology.
This virtualization involves encapsulating all of the Bitcoin Core software into a self-contained software package anchored to the mainnet. This software is called Bitcoin Core Software Package (BCSP).
Thus, through recursive virtualization, a multi-level structure is created that expands the processing capacity of the Bitcoin network, improving its scalability and efficiency, while maintaining the engineering of the main network.
This mechanism, which might sound very similar to the behavior of a second layer (L2) network, although it focuses on improving the scalability of the main network just like an L2, unlike them, Fractal Bitcoin It does so without becoming independent of the original Bitcoin network and without establishing new consensus mechanisms.
Replication of Satoshi’s Genesis Message
The company replied in its sidechain the message posted by Satoshi Nakatomo on the genesis block of Bitcoin (BTC): “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” This message, mimicking a newspaper headline, served as a critical commentary on the 2008 US financial crisis and the need for a decentralized alternative like Bitcoin.
The term “Fractal” comes from the word commonly used in subjects such as mathematics or geometry, where it is used to indicate a fragmented structure that is repeated at different scales and sizes.
This is the pattern that Fractal Bitcoin replicates. Its structure allows the system to expand into new layers to distribute transaction loads and avoid network congestion. This is how the scalability of the original Bitcoin network would be increased, according to the company itself, to unlimited levels.
Ultimately, Fractal Bitcoin natively supports several Bitcoin-associated protocols, such as BRC-20, Runes, Ordinals, among others. In addition, it will feature a decentralized exchange on its mainnet, called PizzaSwap.
Fractal Bitcoin establishes a merged mining mechanism
This system imposed by Fractal is called “Cadence Mining” and proposes the combination of two different methods to ensure network security and efficiency.
On the one hand, it adds permissionless mining, meaning that any user can participate in mining on the Fractal network without needing special authorization. On the other hand, it also employs merged mining with Bitcoin, allowing miners to work on both networks simultaneously.
In this way, this sidechain will attempt to maintain the security of the Bitcoin mainnet, which would benefit both miners and users of Fractal Bitcoin.