New Bitcoin Protocol CATNIP Aims To Improve User Experience

According to Odaily, Udi Wertheimer, an advocate of OP_CAT and co-founder of Taproot Wizards, recently expressed on social media that the user experience of BRC-20 and Runes has been disappointing for most cryptocurrency enthusiasts. He noted that Bitcoin consensus, including nodes and miners, does not recognize their existence. Wertheimer introduced a new Bitcoin-native token protocol called CATNIP, based on OP_CAT recursive contracts, which aims to address these issues. CATNIP allows for partial order fulfillment in the market, enabling users to purchase the exact amount of tokens they need without pre-splitting UTXOs. It also supports bidding, where users can specify the amount of CATNIP they wish to buy at a certain BTC price, allowing one or more sellers to complete the transaction. This protocol will even enable on-chain L1 AMM and liquidity pools. However, due to Bitcoin's slow block times and other issues related to transaction relay strategies, Wertheimer believes that L1 AMM will not provide a good experience. Nonetheless, CATNIP will also support fast and secure off-chain AMM, such as using CatVM. CATNIP is currently under development and testing. The team plans to launch the protocol when OP_CAT goes live on the Bitcoin mainnet.