The Bitcoin network has been witnessing a stunning rally in its BRC20 tokens, with the market capitalization soaring from a modest $95 million to an impressive $279 million in just four days.
As the BRC20 token economy gains momentum, it is transforming the landscape of the Bitcoin network and creating new opportunities for investors and developers alike.
Top BRC20 tokens dominating the market
Ordi, the most valuable BRC20 token, Takes the lion’s share of the market capitalization, boasting a valuation of $200 million, which accounts for more than 71% of the total.
A single ORDI token is currently trading at $9.46. Following ORDI, other top BRC20 tokens include PEPE, PIZA, MEME, MOON, PUNK, DOMO, OSHI, XING, and SHIB.
Pepe, which has a market capitalization of around $17.6 million, should not be confused with the ERC20 meme coin that shares the same name. The top five BRC20 tokens – ORDI, PEPE, PIZA, MEME, AND MOON – collectively make up 86.55% of the total market valuation of $279.07 million.
Ordi leads not only in terms of market capitalization but also in trading volume, generating $3.1 million in 24-hour trade volume. This rapid growth of the BRC20 token economy led to approximately 13,530 tokens in circulation, a significant jump from 10,487 tokens four days ago.
On May 7, Dune Analytics recorded a total of 3.11 million BRC20 transactions. Bitcoin miners have earned 214 BTC, equivalent to $6.2 million, from the thriving BRC20 ecosystem.
This growing adoption of BRC20 tokens has provided an additional revenue stream for miners while also promoting the overall health of the Bitcoin network.
An interesting aspect of the BRC20 token economy is the implementation of supply caps by creators. Data from brc-20.io indicates that out of the top 118 BRC20 tokens by market cap, 80 have chosen a max supply of 21 million, mirroring Bitcoin’s famous supply cap.
This decision reflects a growing trend among token creators to ensure the long-term value and scarcity of their assets.
Why Bitcoin’s BRC20 tokens are surging
The recent surge in the BRC20 token market can be partly attributed to the growing popularity of Bitcoin’s BRC-20 token standard, which has become a hot trend in the crypto ecosystem.
This trend has been fueled by the rise of memecoins, such as Pepe (PEPE) and Memetic (MEME), in recent months. To date, approximately 8,500 different tokens have been minted using the BRC-20 standard, with a majority being memecoins.
The BRC-20 token standard, an experimental standard built on the Bitcoin blockchain, was inspired by Ethereum‘s ERC-20. It allows programmers to create and send fungible tokens via the Ordinals protocol.
Although modeled after ERC-20, the BRC-20 token standard has some key differences from its Ethereum-based counterpart.
Notably, BRC-20 tokens do not utilize smart contracts, and they require a Bitcoin wallet to mint and trade these tokens. This unique approach presents an alternative means of token creation and trading within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
The BRC-20 token standard was introduced in early March by an anonymous on-chain analyst named Domo, aiming to enable the issuance and transfer of fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Since its creation, the market cap of BRC-20 tokens has skyrocketed. As of the time this article was been written, it stands at $120 million, reflecting a staggering 600% increase in the past week alone.
