Fractal Mainnet Launches: Press Release

Fractal Bitcoin’s Highly-Anticipated Mainnet Launches, Marking a New Era in Bitcoin Scalability and Innovation Potential

September 9, 2024 — Fractal Bitcoin, the only Bitcoin native scaling solution that uses the Bitcoin Core code itself to recursively scale unlimited layers on top, is set to launch its mainnet today.

As a recursive blockchain computing system, Fractal uses virtualization of Bitcoin's core software to scale Bitcoin's processing capacity infinitely. This unlocks the potential for native, internet-scale applications on Bitcoin, while maintaining complete consensus consistency with the Bitcoin network.

Since its launch on testnet in July 2024, Fractal has demonstrated significant traction with 11.5 million unique addresses and 13.6 million transactions, achieving a hashrate of 2000 PH/s, which is 0.32% of Bitcoin's total hashrate.

Fractal launches against a crop of Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions which mainly tout EVM-compatibility instead of using Bitcoin-native constructs. The palpable excitement in the Bitcoin ecosystem for Fractal is in large part due to its insistence on Bitcoin-aligned infrastructure. The highly anticipated mainnet launch brings new capabilities to the ecosystem, particularly the introduction of the OP_CAT opcode. As such, Fractal has been described by early ecosystem developers as an “innovation playground.” This development is expected to foster a new wave of native innovation on the Bitcoin network.

Lorenzo, Director of UniSat and core contributor to Fractal, stated, “The launch of Fractal on the mainnet is a pivotal moment for the Bitcoin ecosystem. It provides a robust platform for developers to experiment, innovate, and build native solutions on Bitcoin without relying on foreign constructs. The community has shown incredible support on the testnet, and we expect even greater momentum with the mainnet launch.”

Fractal’s block confirmation times are 30 seconds or less, with 20x increase in capacity per layer. As a result of its recursive layering of Bitcoin core software, Fractal can natively support Bitcoin protocols, such as BRC-20, Runes, Ordinals, RGB++, and more. Fractal also preserves the same address format as Bitcoin, so users can send FB — the Fractal Bitcoin utility asset — on Fractal to the same addresses they currently use for BTC on Bitcoin.

As a proof-of-work network, differentiated in today’s sea of proof-of-stake chains, Fractal Bitcoin employs a hybrid mining architecture called “Cadence Mining.” Cadence Mining enables two-thirds of all blocks to be mined permissionlessly, with the other one-third blocks merged-mined with Bitcoin to ensure its security.

“As a long-standing mining pool service provider of 11 years, Bitcoin security and mining clients are always f2pool’s first priority. With that in mind, we embrace Bitcoin innovation, such as the Fractal project — which we see as the leading Bitcoin scalability project that could potentially benefit many Bitcoin miners,” said a spokesperson for f2pool.

Fractal is a contributor-led project. Since its inception in the form of a technical litepaper, UniSat has teamed up with BlockSpaceForce, a team of operational veterans in the space, and other top minds to develop tooling and infrastructure for Fractal.

As Fractal goes live on the mainnet, it aims to redefine what is possible within the Bitcoin ecosystem, with its unique blend of Bitcoin-native infrastructure, Bitcoin-aligned principles, and a large and enthusiastic community. More than 80 projects have already announced launches on Fractal, with dozens more planning to do so. These projects span a wide range, from infrastructure such as smart contract frameworks, wallets, swaps, and bridges, to consumer dApps such as gaming, DeFi, and NFTs.

Spencer Yang, Managing Partner of BlockSpaceForce and core contributor to Fractal, added, “Fractal’s mainnet launch marks a significant milestone in what’s now possible on Bitcoin, that wasn’t possible before. By enabling recursive network instances and introducing new opcodes, we are unlocking a new wave of native innovation on the Bitcoin network.”

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About Fractal

Who we are

Fractal Bitcoin is the only Bitcoin scaling solution that uses the Bitcoin Core code itself to recursively scale unlimited layers on top of the world’s most-secure and -held blockchain. It enables infinite scalability and seamless integration with Bitcoin, allowing it to support internet-scale applications while maintaining high consistency with Bitcoin's core principles.

Fractal Bitcoin is seen as the “innovation playground” for Bitcoin, as it enables developers to flexibly try deployments with OP_CAT enabled, and provides a set of robust APIs and tooling to get started quickly.

Fractal was conceived as a way to ease network congestion on Bitcoin, enabling wider adoption. Fractal is a contributor-led team, with UniSat and BlockSpaceForce being the main contributors since its inception. The team has extensive experience in Bitcoin development over the past 2 years, and supports hundreds of teams with robust API services. The Fractal core contributor team also possesses extensive operational experience, with team members who have built, operated, and exited world-class companies such as Coinbase, CoinMarketCap, Cobo, VeChain, and more, across multiple capacities.

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Highlights of Fractal

Fractal is the first instance of a virtualization methodology applied to Bitcoin in the world. Fractal gradually extends the Bitcoin blockchain into a scalable computing system without breaking consistency with the Bitcoin main chain.

• Native
  Recursive scaling of Bitcoin Core code itself, ensures consistent and unlimited scaling, and native support of current infrastructure (e.g. wallets).

• Fast
  Block confirmation times are 30 seconds or less, with 20x increase in capacity per layer.

• Dynamic Scaling
  On-chain interactions scale dynamically, acting as a “blockspace load balancer” to reduce congestion.

• Consistent
  Self-replicating layers maintain on-chain consensus, allowing transactions and hashes to be traced back to the Bitcoin chain without forks or shards.

• Easy
  Assets transfer seamlessly across layers without additional relays, thanks to consistent layering.

For more information, please visit fractalbitcoin.io.