Bitcoin Bot Stifles BRC-20 Creation on Blockchain
A bot that aims to hinder the creation of new BRC-20s has returned to the Bitcoin blockchain. The pseudonymous creator, @rot13maxi on Twitter, denied involvement but admitted to sharing the code with someone else.
The bot, named Sophon, targets incoming Bitcoin transactions involving Ordinals and “snipes” specific ones before they complete processing. By paying a fee to jump the line in Bitcoin’s queue, Sophon thwarts fresh BRC-20s by front-running their ticker names.
According to @rot13maxi, there is a version of Sophon running that is not under his control. This version’s existence poses a security risk because it can block the creation of new BRC-20s.
Ordinals and BRC-20 Tokens
Ordinals, launched earlier this year, allows for creating NFT-like assets on Bitcoin by “inscribing” them onto individual satoshis. These inscriptions have included art, profile pictures, and text.
BRC-20 tokens are fungible tokens on Bitcoin realized through Ordinals. Created using text-based inscriptions comprising JSON code, these tokens have attracted significant interest, leading to surges in Bitcoin transaction fees.
Sophon Mechanism and Impact
The Sophon identifies transactions deploying new BRC-20s and stops them by paying a higher fee and setting their total supply to one. This action demonstrates a design flaw in the process of creating global namespaces for tokens.
After activating on October 3, Sophon reduced text-based inscriptions by 72%. Conversely, after its funds were depleted on October 23, inscriptions increased by 540%. Overall, it derailed around 275 fledgling BRC-20s with a 75% success rate.
Monsters in the Mempool
The bot’s name is inspired by an antagonistic supercomputer in Liu Cixin’s series “Remembrance of Earth’s Past.” Similar to its fictional counterpart blocking scientific progress, the bot blocks the creation of BRC-20 tokens.
@rot13maxi acknowledges that Sophon is not foolproof and could be bypassed by paying higher fees or requesting its operator to turn it off. He is considering making the bot’s code public due to these vulnerabilities.
Hot Take: Implications for Blockchain Security
Sophon’s return highlights vulnerabilities in blockchain token creation processes. As interest in BRC-20 tokens grows, security risks posed by bots like Sophon need to be addressed to ensure the integrity and functionality of blockchain systems.
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