BRC-20 is an experimental fungible token standard on the Bitcoin blockchain, created in March 2023 by an anonymous developer called Domo. Inspired by Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, BRC-20 uses Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions to deploy, mint, and transfer tokens directly on the Bitcoin base layer — without any smart contracts or Layer 2. Tokens are created by inscribing JSON text files (containing the token’s name, supply, and limit per mint) onto individual satoshis. Anyone can then mint tokens by inscribing additional JSON data, up to the defined limit.
BRC-20 context and significance: the standard was explicitly described as experimental by its creator, yet it sparked an enormous speculative frenzy in April–May 2023 as tokens like ORDI, SATS, MEME, and PEPE on Bitcoin attracted millions in trading volume. This demand caused Bitcoin transaction fees to spike dramatically as users competed to inscribe mints. BRC-20 is technically limited compared to ERC-20 — it relies entirely on off-chain indexers to track balances (not enforced by Bitcoin itself), transfers require manual inscription steps, and DeFi composability is minimal. Nevertheless, it demonstrated appetite for Bitcoin-native token issuance and spawned the Runes protocol (launched on the April 2024 halving block by Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor) — a more efficient, on-chain-friendly fungible token standard designed to supersede BRC-20.
Example: The BRC-20 token ORDI — the first BRC-20 token, named after Ordinals — was minted for near-zero cost in January 2023. By December 2023 it traded at $65, giving early minters millions of percent returns on essentially zero capital.
Learn more: CoinGecko — BRC-20 Tokens
