BRC-20 tokens

BRC-20 is an experimental token standard that creates fungible tokens on Bitcoin using Ordinals inscriptions. It was created in March 2023 by a pseudonymous developer known as Domo. Rather than smart contracts, BRC-20 uses small pieces of JSON text inscribed on satoshis to "deploy" a token, "mint" it and "transfer" it. Off-chain indexers read these inscriptions and keep track of balances.

The first and best-known BRC-20 token is ORDI. A speculative frenzy in 2023 pushed Bitcoin fees sharply higher as people raced to mint tokens.

BRC-20 is clunky compared with tokens on smart-contract chains. Every transfer requires multiple Bitcoin transactions, balances depend on indexers agreeing with each other, and Bitcoin nodes themselves do not enforce the token rules. Alternative Bitcoin token protocols, such as Runes, launched at the April 2024 halving block, try to be more efficient. Treat these tokens as highly speculative.