A Complete Guide to Create a BRC-20 Token In 2023

Create BRC-20 tokens to widen the scope to your business into the Bitcoin ecosystem attracting a global audience as a result.

Create a BRC-20 Token

The crypto world has been a haven for fascinating advancements every year, and 2023 has been nothing short of it. While the year’s first financial quarter saw the restoration of the value of non-fungible tokens and the crypto market in general, the second quarter has already presented what might be a breakthrough innovation for the space. The innovative prospect in question is BRC-20 token development, a fungible token standard native to the Bitcoin blockchain. Isn’t it surprising? The standard, still in the experimental phase, has already earned ample recognition to become just more than a passing fad. This guide describes in-depth whatever is required to launch BRC-20 tokens from a business perspective.

Table of Contents

• BRC-20 Token Development: What Should We Know?
• Elements to Remember in the BRC-20 Ecosystem
• Steps to Create BRC-20 Tokens
• Possible Business Applications BRC-20 Tokens Can Impact
• Popular BRC-20 Tokens in the Market Ranked
• Shedding Final Thoughts

BRC-20 Token Development: What Should We Know?

BRC-20 token development standard is the brainchild of an anonymous Bitcoin enthusiast developer who implemented the protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain in early March 2023. Within two months of existence, there have been over 18,000 different crypto tokens created using the standard, most related to memes and fictional characters.

The popular ones include $BRCPEPE and $MEME, while $ORDI has been the top BRC-20 coin (it isn’t a meme coin, though). The latter is the native token for a decentralized finance project based on the Ordinals protocol that facilitates people to create BRC-20 tokens.

Escape the ORDINARY by Building BRC-20 Tokens Using the ORDINALS Protocol!

Elements to Remember in the BRC-20 Ecosystem

Before getting started with developing BRC-20 tokens, it is essential to get acquainted with the main terminologies used in the process so that you wouldn’t feel like being left out of the conversation. Read the below points carefully to understand the basics of the Bitcoin fungible token ecosystem:

• Ordinals Protocol refers to the blockchain implementation on the Bitcoin network that allows BRC-20 tokens to be created by storing different data forms into Satoshis (1 BTC = 100,000,000 SAT).
• Inscriptions refer to the metadata stored on the Satoshis through the Ordinals Protocol. These can be loosely related to non-fungible tokens as they allow storage of different data forms like text and images, with a maximum file size of 4 MB. There are several marketplaces that enable the trading of these Ordinal inscriptions.
• Taproot Upgrade is an update to the Bitcoin network implemented in 2021 by a group of innovative developers, which unknowingly had provisions that led to the emergence of the Ordinals Protocol, and hence, the BRC-20 token standard. The update’s primary aim was to allow multiple signatures and transactions to be batched together for on-chain processing, resulting in increased transaction speeds in the Bitcoin network.

Steps to Create BRC-20 Tokens

1. The process begins by creating a wallet account with any Bitcoin crypto wallet provider. Make sure the wallet has a taproot address (typically starting with “bc1p”) since only such accounts can be used to launch BRC-20 tokens.
2. Load the wallet with a sufficient amount of Bitcoin ($BTC) to pay for transactions while creating BRC-20 tokens.
3. Enter the basic details for creating a BRC-20 token, like token name, symbol, decimals, maximum supply, and initial value, into a JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) data object.
4. Encode the data object created on the wallet. Using the Ordinals Protocol, you can send the object to the wallet itself (similar to “message yourself” on WhatsApp) through a Bitcoin transaction.
5. The BRC-20 tokens are now minted and are ready to be utilized and transacted across the ecosystem.
6. Alternatively, there are several portals that can be used to create BRC-20 tokens, although those would not be ideal for projects aiming to build a large-scale business.

Since the standard is still under development, the way to integrate them into business applications (note that the Bitcoin network doesn’t support smart contracts) is yet to become widespread. But, with the speed these technologies are being researched and implemented, the day for them isn’t too far away.

Possible Business Applications BRC-20 Tokens Can Impact

• Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Applications can benefit from BRC-20 tokens by facilitating monetary exchanges and other financial operations. These can come in handy, especially when a BRC-20 token has some underlying utility for holders.
• Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Transactions can take a new turn with the BRC-20 token standard, as tokens can be transferred without the need to change into Bitcoin. This will be useful when such tokens gain utility and market recognition.
• Tokenization on the Bitcoin network will become feasible with this token standard, enabling real-world assets to be represented in the world’s most prominent blockchain.
• Governance for ventures on the Bitcoin network can be facilitated through BRC-20 tokens, enhancing decentralization for businesses.
• Token Gating can be implemented on communities and creators based on the Bitcoin blockchain, which is mainly possible due to ordinal inscriptions.

Popular BRC-20 Tokens in the Market Ranked

The below BRC-20 tokens are ranked in order of their market capitalization, sourced from the portal BRC-20.io.

1. ordi — US$333.66 million
2. vmpx — US$25.93 million
3. pepe — US$17.24 million
4. meme — US$9.94 million
5. nals — US$8.98 million
6. domo — US$6.48 million
7. piza — US$6.28 million
8. oshi — US$5.84 million
9. apes — US$5.44 million
10. moon — US$4.68 million

Shedding Final Thoughts

Hence, we have seen how businesses can launch BRC-20 tokens to maximize the latest innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Despite claims that this standard could only be experimental, the day BRC-20 tokens make it far in the Web3 space is not distant as ventures come up with newer ingenious ideas. If you’re a business aspirant desiring to create BRC-20 tokens, this is the right time to start, as the space is not too congested. Experts predict that more use cases will become possible when the Bitcoin community unanimously agrees on a network upgrade that will enable these tokens to be utilized seamlessly.