Bitcoin Ordinals creator wants to clean up BRC-20 standard

Casey Rodarmor proposes “Runes” to improve BRC-20 clutter that complicates the Bitcoin system and makes it less efficient

article-image

Maurice Norbert/Shuterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

Casey Rodarmor, inventor of Bitcoin Ordinals, has proposed a new system for creating digital assets on the Bitcoin network, in a bid to offer a cleaner version to the current BRC-20 standard.

In a recent blog post, Rodarmor pointed out that BRC-20, while popular, leads to the unnecessary proliferation of “junk” UTXOs (Unspent Transaction Outputs), an issue he proposes to address with “Runes.”

Ordinal Theory, first introduced in January, is a technique that assigns numerical identifiers to “sats,” the smallest unit of bitcoin. The method utilizes a First-In-First-Out algorithm meaning the first sat recorded is the first one to be utilized or processed.

It paved the way for inscriptions — essentially Bitcoin NFTs — that skyrocketed in popularity in April, rising from 1.2 million to today’s 34.7 million units, according to the latest figures from a Dune dashboard.

Loading Tweet..

Inscriptions have been criticized for increasing the complexity and cost of transacting on the Bitcoin network, and leading to unintended consequences.

The main problem, according to Rodarmor, is that this clutter complicates the system and makes it less efficient, leading to higher costs. Runes aim to simplify how fungible tokens can be issued, transferred and burned within the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Specifically, balances would be held by UTXOs, which can contain varying amounts of any number of runes. A transaction would also contain a protocol message if it has an output with a specific script, allowing for easy identification of transactions.

“Should such a thing exist? I don’t know. It’s about as simple as possible, does not rely on off-chain data, does not have a native token and fits nicely into Bitcoin’s native UTXO model,” Rodarmor mused.

The approach, Rodarmor said, could attract users and developers from systems with less efficient on-chain operations, thereby boosting Bitcoin’s popularity and encouraging broader adoption.

“On the other hand, the world of fungible tokens is a near totally irredeemable pit of deceit and avarice, so it might be a wash,” he said.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

Dragonfly’s Rob Hadick discussed how the firm is approaching investments in the current market

article-image

The asset surged over the past seven days to reach its highest-ever weekly close on the SOL/ETH pair

article-image

Industry watchers note that SOL ETFs have attracted a fraction of the demand for bitcoin and ether ETFs

article-image

Tariff swings impact stock market and company outlooks, with Apple and NVidia likely to be affected by China tariffs

article-image

The team says an attacker minted unclaimed tokens from ZKsync’s 2024 airdrop

article-image

The MIT research-based protocol is live in private testnet — laying the foundation for decentralized RAM