In coordination with lead maintainers UniSat and Best In Slot, the Layer 1 Foundation is in the process of integrating the “Swap Module” into the BRC20 standard.

The BRC20 Swap Module leverages the ordinals script system and the liquidity pool DEX design to enable smooth and secure exchange of BRC20 tokens. Specifically, the system allows users to manage their token balances through defined operations, create and manage trading pairs, and add or remove liquidity.

Open source code for this update is now available for review by the BRC20 community—with a comment period of at least 4 weeks before integration into the standard. The Layer 1 Foundation welcomes and encourages comments, testing, and other thoughts by the community that may be used to improve this module leading up to its release.

The main repository related to this upgrade is now available for review: Repo/Code for Swap Module Indexer.

These should be reviewed as drafts, not completed code-bases, to collect feedback by the BRC20 community as well as by members of the Layer 1 Foundation Oversight Committee.

Additionally, we encourage the community to review the BRC20 Swap Module specification and Swap Module indexing rules previously shared in the public repository BRC20-proposals.

We look forward to working with the BRC20 community to battle-test this proposed upgrade leading up to its integration into the standard. We are also working on a SigNet implementation of this upgrade and will let the community know as soon as it's available.

The Layer 1 Foundation, in coordination with BRC20 lead maintainers UniSat and BestInSlot, are in the process of working towards integrating the “Swap Module” into the standard.

The BRC20 Swap Module is a system that enables the smooth and secure exchange of BRC20 tokens, leveraging the ordinals script system and the liquidity pool DEX design. It allows users to manage their token balances through defined operations, create and manage trading pairs, and add or remove liquidity.

We believe the implementation and standardization of swaps within BRC20 will substantially reduce friction for trading—and unlock untold liquidity as a step forward in building truly Bitcoin-native DeFi.

The team aims to have this upgrade completed within the next 6-8 weeks. Initially with a comment period of 4 weeks, followed by an implementation period where testnet hash comparison will be available.

Additionally, the Best in Slot team is working on a “programmability” module within BRC20—with the intention of creating a generalized complexity layer within the standard itself.

The programmability module in BRC-20 introduces the ability to inscribe smart contracts on to Bitcoin, allowing for complex computations and interactions with BRC-20 tokens.

This update will enable indexers to execute smart contract code, which permits users to designate specific contracts and functions for interaction, resulting in updates to the BRC-20 state as dictated by the logic of the contract. This enhancement could significantly increase the adaptability and functionality of BRC-20, opening up possibilities for diverse applications directly on Layer 1 Bitcoin.

We aim to have documentation and testing environments for programmability on BRC20 closer to Q3 2024, although the timeline on this is less clear than that for swaps.

Both of these efforts are highly experimental and true usability is still unproven. That said, we now see a path towards actualizing these efforts, and are excited to see what’s possible for Bitcoin-native DeFi.

Documentation related to the programmability layer is set to be released in May 2024. To read existing documentation or provide feedback about the upcoming Swap Module, please visit the Layer 1 Foundation forum. If you are a builder who wants to implement the swap module for an application, feel free to reach out to the Unisat team on Twitter for additional support.

The Layer 1 Foundation is excited to announce its first educational series: L1F talks!

L1F talks will begin as a series of 12 Twitter spaces exploring technical topics within the rapidly growing world of “Bitcoin Season II.”

We believe Ordinals is just the beginning of an unprecedented growth spurt in Bitcoin-focused technologies—and we’re thrilled to create a dedicated space to explore the vast range of progressive technologies being built on top of Bitcoin.

Hosted by the Layer 1 Foundation, along with BRC20 Creator Domo and & Isabel Foxen Duke, the show will bring together innovative leaders in Bitcoin—including technical experts in Ordinals, fungibles, “Bitcoin Layer 2s,” and much more.

The show will be sponsored and co-hosted by Layer 1 Foundation founding partner, Oyl Dynamics—a soon-to-launch Bitcoin wallet and parent company to the Sandshrew indexer tool for Bitcoin, Ordinals and BRC20.

If you’re excited to learn more about Bitcoin and keep up with all the technical innovation happening in this space, we hope you’ll tune in—and follow @l1fxyz on X for updates on upcoming shows!