BRC-20 protocol
Overview
On 9 March 2023, a pseudonymous developer called Domo introduced BRC-20, an experimental token standard for Bitcoin. It relies on the Ordinals protocol, which Casey Rodarmor released in January 2023 to allow arbitrary data to be attached to individual satoshis. BRC-20 uses JSON text inscribed on satoshis to deploy, mint and transfer tokens; indexers read these inscriptions sequentially to determine balances, without any smart-contract enforcement. This absence of smart contracts, in contrast to ERC-20, makes the standard experimental. Domo minted ORDI, the first BRC-20 token, in March 2023. What Domo described on Twitter as a 'fun experiment' saw rapid adoption, with aggregate market capitalisation reaching roughly $991 million by early May 2023, coinciding with a spike in Bitcoin network activity and transaction fees.
Within The Counterparty graph, BRC-20 connects to 10 tracked entities, most strongly to Bitcoin, Runes Protocol, Ordinals Protocol.
Relations
Top connections in The Counterparty knowledge graph (confidence-weighted, 10 of 10 total).
| Relation | Connected entity | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
deployed_on | Bitcoin | 95% |
competes_with | Runes Protocol | 95% |
built_on | Ordinals Protocol | 95% |
supports | Unisat | 95% |
issued_on | Ordi | 95% |
forked_from | Runes Protocol | 85% |
supports | Leather Wallet | 85% |
supports | Xverse Wallet | 85% |
issued_on | SATS (BRC-20) | 85% |
issued_on | RATS (BRC-20) | 85% |
Frequently asked questions
What is BRC-20?
BRC-20 is an other tracked in The Counterparty knowledge graph. It is connected to 10 other tracked entities, most strongly to Bitcoin, Runes Protocol, Ordinals Protocol.
What type of entity is BRC-20?
BRC-20 is classified as an other (protocol) in The Counterparty knowledge graph.
What is BRC-20 connected to?
In The Counterparty knowledge graph, BRC-20 is linked to 10 other tracked entities, most strongly to Bitcoin, Runes Protocol, Ordinals Protocol.
Sources
Facts in this record were checked against the following. Where a claim is not covered here, the record states only what the graph holds.