Bitcoin Alkanes: The Next Big BTC Innovation After Ordinals and Runes?

Alkanes is a new metaprotocol on Bitcoin that lets developers build smart contracts and launch tokens directly on the base layer, without bridges or external execution layers, according to a Decrypt article. Developed by Oyl Corp, it was founded by Alec Taggart, Cole Jorissen, and Ray Pulver, and uses WASM virtual machines to inscribe contracts into Bitcoin's data layer. Taggart said it is meant to live alongside Ordinals and Runes rather than compete with them, and it supports features such as automated market makers, staking contracts and NFT swaps. The protocol launched in early 2025 at block 880000 with the deployment of the Diesel contract, and Oyl Corp has released its indexing engine, Metashrew, as open-source software.