orc-20

This article from Blockzeit summarizes several emerging token standards—primarily BRC20, SRC20, and ORC20—alongside related standards such as LTC20 and DRC20. It explains how each standard leverages different protocols (Ordinals for BRC20, Stamps/Counterparty-like mechanics for SRC20, and an improved, flexible ORC20 approach) and lists popular tools and wallets used for minting, exploring, and trading tokens on Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Dogecoin ecosystems. The piece highlights key technical trade-offs: BRC20’s limitations around naming and immutability, ORC20’s flexible naming and supply controls, and DRC20’s very low gas costs but limited marketplaces. It also outlines practical resources—wallets, explorers, and marketplaces—while cautioning readers about FOMO, market risks, and the experimental nature of these standards.

The ORC-20 token standard is an open framework designed to improve and extend BRC-20 tokens on the Bitcoin network, with a particular focus on enabling broader adoption of Ordinals. It preserves backward compatibility with BRC-20 while addressing several practical limitations by introducing greater flexibility in data formats, stronger security measures, and improved scalability characteristics. ORC-20 leverages Bitcoin’s UTXO model to mitigate risks like double-spending that have affected some BRC-20 implementations, and it aims to make programmable tokens on Bitcoin more robust and versatile. Overall, ORC-20 provides a more adaptable token schema for developers and projects building with Ordinals on Bitcoin, balancing compatibility with important technical enhancements.

This Gate Learn article, “Seven Websites to Take You Deeper into ORC-20,” is a practical resource primer for anyone researching ORC-20 inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain. It explains the ORC-20 token standard — how it builds on Bitcoin’s UTXO model, mitigates double-spending risks seen in earlier standards like BRC-20, and enables greater naming flexibility and scalability. The article then lists seven essential websites and tools to support research, development, minting, and tracking of ORC-20 tokens: the official ORC-20 Guide (docs), UniSat wallet for inscription and management, Mempool for transaction status, Dune for analytics, JSON resources for token structure, LoveOrds token lists, and BitPunk’s Inscription Explorer for browsing inscriptions. A bonus YouTube walkthrough is also referenced to help users understand practical minting steps and comparisons with BRC-20.

ORC-20 is an experimental open token standard built on Bitcoin ordinals that aims to extend and address several limitations of the earlier BRC-20 format. ORC-20 inscriptions are JSON-based payloads attached to specific satoshis and follow the UTXO transaction model, which enables built-in anti-double-spending behavior, partial transactions with cancellable nonces, and more flexible metadata and naming. The standard supports deploy, mint, send, cancel, upgrade, and migration events, and it allows wrappers to convert existing BRC-20 tokens into ORC-20 format. While ORC-20 promises greater adaptability, upgradability, and improved indexing for ordinal tokens, it remains experimental and carries the same speculative risks and potential for token issuer dilution or market manipulation as prior inscription-based token experiments. This article serves as an explainer and a starting point for further research.

Inscribe NFTs is a web-based interface for creating and managing Bitcoin Ordinals inscriptions, including BRC-20 and ORC-20 tokens, .sats names, text, files, and cursed inscriptions. The tool provides workflows for deploying, minting, transferring BRC-20 and ORC-20 tokens, checking if files are already inscribed, and composing simple mail-like inscriptions with subject and message fields. It includes fee selection, estimation, and advanced options such as upgradability, migration, custom keys, CPFP boosting, padding, and toggles for cursed inscriptions or developer tips. The interface warns users to verify destination addresses carefully and offers links to check transferable balances and other on-chain details. Overall, Inscribe NFTs targets creators and token operators who need a flexible, feature-rich front end to inscribe content and manage ordinals on Bitcoin.

ORC-20 is an experimental token standard that brings fungible token capabilities to the Bitcoin blockchain by inscribing JSON metadata onto individual satoshis using the Ordinals protocol. Introduced as an improvement over the earlier BRC-20 approach, ORC-20 aims to increase flexibility by supporting a wider range of data formats and to strengthen security by leveraging Bitcoin’s UTXO model to mitigate double-spending issues. The standard is designed to be backward compatible with BRC-20 while offering enhancements such as a flexible naming space, nonce-enabled transfers, and clearer transaction invalidation after each UTXO spend. As with many early token standards on Bitcoin, ORC-20 remains experimental and carries risks; users should research thoroughly and proceed with caution before creating, migrating, or investing in ORC-20 tokens.

The ORC-20 page on Dune provides an analytics-focused view of the ORC-20 token standard and related Ordinals activity, offering dashboards and visualizations that summarize issuance, transfers, holders, and on-chain behavior. Built on Dune’s queryable data platform, this resource aggregates Bitcoin Ordinals data to surface trends, top holders, transaction volumes, and token distribution statistics, enabling researchers and traders to explore on-chain patterns through charts, tables, and filters. The dashboard typically includes time-series views, rankings, and drill-downs into individual token activity, and leverages Dune’s SQL-based query layer so users can reproduce or adapt queries for custom analysis. For anyone tracking the emerging ORC-20 ecosystem, the page acts as a practical entry point to quantify adoption and movement across the standard using interoperable, sharable dashboards.

ORC-20 Tokens: What Are They & How Do They Work? is a detailed market-insight article from Samara Asset Group that explains the ORC-20 token standard, its motivations, mechanics, and potential impact on token issuance on the Bitcoin blockchain. The piece introduces ORC-20 as an experimental standard developed by OrcDAO in April 2023 that builds on BRC-20 and Ordinal inscriptions, improving scalability, security, naming flexibility, and anti-double-spending measures. It outlines the four core ORC-20 operations — deploy, mint, send, and cancel — and explains how ORC-20 uses the Bitcoin UTXO model and supports JSON and other data formats. The article also compares ORC-20 to BRC-20, lists the top ORC-20 tokens by market cap (Orc, Ordinals, Orcd), and discusses adoption risks and future possibilities for token standards on Bitcoin.

The Nirvana Upgrade for ORC-20 represents a coordinated protocol migration and enhancement designed to modernize ORC-20 token inscription formats, improve interoperability, and prepare the ecosystem for broader DeFi use on Bitcoin Ordinals. The upgrade includes a snapshot at block height #818418 and a Genesis Launch at #818419, requiring indexers and minting services to update their support to reflect migrated balances. Key changes include streamlined inscription fields, stablecoin support (e.g., USDT and USDC), a transfer model aligned with BRC-20, and the addition of native OTC atomic swap capabilities and an ORDER-BOOK for AMM-like functionality. The update also shifts reward mechanisms toward decentralization, clarifies indexing rules, and fixes multiple bugs, all to encourage developer participation and wider on-chain utility.

ORC-20 is presented on GitHub as the home for the ORC-20 Protocol, a project identity that appears to focus on a protocol-level specification and supporting code repositories. The profile lists a public repository named “snapshot” and links to an X (Twitter) handle @orc20protocol, indicating a social presence for announcements and community engagement. The GitHub account shows minimal activity and no recent contributions, suggesting the profile may be new, dormant, or primarily used for hosting specific repositories rather than active development. The organization page includes standard GitHub sections (Overview, Repositories, Projects, Packages, Stars) and offers controls for reporting or blocking the user, consistent with a typical public project account.

ORC-20 is an experimental open standard for fungible ordinal tokens on the Bitcoin network, designed to extend and improve the BRC-20 ordinals token standard. It aims for backward compatibility with BRC-20 while addressing adaptability, scalability, and security concerns by adopting a more explicit event model (deploy, mint, send, cancel, upgrade) and a UTXO-based transaction approach. ORC-20 introduces JSON-based, case-insensitive token metadata, flexible tickers, and nonce-enabled partial transaction cancellation to reduce risks like double-spending and centralized indexing dependencies. Migration from BRC-20 to ORC-20 is intentionally irreversible, and the standard emphasizes that tokens created under ORC-20 are experimental with no guaranteed value—users should exercise caution and conduct independent research. The CoinCarp article also lists explorers, inscription services, trackers, and developer references for those who want to inspect or participate in ORC-20 activity.