The new BRC-20 token standard is taking the Bitcoin network by storm, and for good reason. With the innovative Ordinals protocol at its core, creators can now deploy, mint, and transfer fungible tokens with ease.
Pseudonymous on-chain analyst @domodata came up with this ingenious idea to have some fun on the Bitcoin network by creating fungible tokens. He explained the details in his blog and tweeted about this experiment which was widely received by the community.
The BRC-20 standard has already been used to create 8,500 distinct tokens, the most majority of which are rising memecoins like PEPE, OG$, PUNK, MEME, and SHIB.
The BRC-20 token standard is substantially different from its Ethereum-based equivalent, despite being modelled after ERC-20. They don’t use smart contracts, instead, they use a simple script file stored on the Bitcoin network that defines the token’s properties and functions.
According to Domo, the BRC-20 standard is just a “fun experimental standard demonstrating that you can create off-chain balance states with inscriptions. It by no means should be considered THE standard for fungibility on bitcoin with ordinals.”
On May 1, the BRC-20 token volume reached a high of 366,000 transactions, with a total of 2.36 million transactions taking place on the network.
Due to the new token activity, transaction fees have increased along with the growth in BRC-20 transactions. The network has produced an extra 109.7 BTC in transaction fees for miners since its launch in late April.
Also Read: How Ordinals Inscriptions are Revolutionizing Bitcoin NFTs
