Bitcoin Users have gained a potentially more efficient way to mint new assets on the blockchain after Lightning Labs released an updated version of its recently rebranded Taproot asset protocol.
In a May 16 blog post, Lightning Network infrastructure company Lighting Labs criticized the current method of recording assets on the Bitcoin blockchain, calling it "particularly inefficient," noting that storing asset metadata "directly cumbersome protocol for writing to blockchain ce". Since anonymous developer “Domo” launched the BRC-20 token standard on March 8, the Taproot asset protocol is designed to operate “maximally off-chain” to avoid network congestion, an unfortunate feature of the Bitcoin network.
Lightning Labs says protocol users can quickly integrate BRC-20 assets into the Lightning Network, porting wallets, exchanges, and merchants without “bootstrapping a new ecosystem” from scratch.
Domo has previously stated that the Taproot asset protocol is a “better solution” for mining new assets on Bitcoin than existing methods such as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), as it allows users to easily move to the Lightning Network for "fast and cheap deals "
The vast majority of BRC-20 tokens created to date use serial number inscriptions of JSON data to deploy token contracts, mint tokens, and transfer them. This approach has drawn widespread criticism from developers, who claim the process has four times the transaction fees of using only binary files. The Taproot Asset Protocol is a rebranded version of the original "Taro" protocol. Lightning Labs was forced to change the name of the software after blockchain development firm Tari Labs filed a so-called “frivolous” trademark infringement lawsuit a gain Lightning Labs on Dec. 8 last year.
