Interpreting ORC20: The Upgraded Version of BRC20 Once Noted by Binance, Its Challenges and Future
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Interpreting ORC20: The Upgraded Version of BRC20 Once Noted by Binance, Its Challenges and Future
ORC20 is more like Ethereum, an emerging contender, but with greater "usability."
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsThe Bitcoin ecosystem has become a prominent field of study, with BRC20, ARC20, and SRC20 competing for attention. Amid this crowded landscape, some investors are beginning to shift their focus toward new potential projects.
Remember ORC20 from May?
On May 13, Binance Academy tweeted about ORC-20, bringing it into the spotlight.
That same month, OKX founder Star also tweeted that he was working on building infrastructure for both BRC-20 and ORC-20.
What is ORC20, and what’s its latest development status?
ORC-20 can be simply understood as an upgraded version of BRC-20. Born out of BRC-20's limitations, ORC-20 is a new token standard on the Bitcoin blockchain that offers greater flexibility, scalability, and security.
As the earliest token standard on the Bitcoin network, BRC-20 has several constraints:
BRC-20 token names can only be four characters long;
Total supply and maximum mint amount per transaction are fixed and cannot be changed, lacking flexibility;
BRC-20 token transfers rely entirely on external, centralized indexers and do not allow transaction cancellation;
To address these shortcomings, ORC-20 introduces optimizations: allowing changes to initial supply and maximum mint amounts; removing naming restrictions; using the UTXO model to prevent double-spending during transactions; enabling transaction cancellation; and allowing already deployed BRC-20 tokens to migrate to ORC-20—though only the original BRC-20 deployer can initiate such migration.
Overall, ORC-20 removes certain BRC-20 limitations and defines additional operations, offering greater flexibility for token issuance on the Bitcoin network. To draw an analogy, BRC20 is more like Bitcoin—pioneering but traditional; ORC20 is more like Ethereum—a latecomer but far more "operational."
Since its inception in April, ORC-20 has gradually been building its own ecosystem.
ORC20 Protocol
Official ORC20 Protocol Twitter: link.
XRCSwap
This is the trading marketplace for ORC, using BTC as the trading pair. It will support trading of ORC20 ecosystem tokens in the future.
https://preview.xrcswap.org/marketplace
20Scan
An indexer for the ORC ecosystem, now open-source and available for use by any third-party developers or platforms, which benefits ecosystem growth.
Currently, the most legitimate leading token within ORC-20 is ORC, with 1,798 holder addresses. Based on the latest transaction price on January 4, its market cap stands at $14 million.
In terms of market capitalization, ORC20 still lags far behind BRC20, ARC20, and SRC20. Despite its significant functional improvements over BRC20, why is this the case?
This reflects a characteristic of the crypto market: narrative value often outweighs utility value. ORDI pioneered BRC20—the first token issuance on the Bitcoin network—while ATOM and STAMP started new narratives. ORC20, as an improved fork based on BRC20, naturally faces gravitational pull from BRC20's established presence.
So here comes the question: Is ORC20 meant to replace BRC20 or complement it? Positioning determines direction. In the past, some community members may have seen it as a replacement, much like early Bitcoin forks once did.
Today, the ORC20 community takes a more pragmatic approach: ORC20 is an extension protocol of BRC20—not a replacement, but a supplement and enhancement. This path is more practical and reliable. Functions and needs that cannot be directly fulfilled on BRC20 can be achieved on ORC20, such as certain DeFi-like capabilities.
Under this positioning, ORC's valuation potential is tied to ORDI. With ORDI currently holding a $1.5 billion market cap, could ORC capture 5% or even 10% of that value? If so, ORC would experience a significant leap from its current level. As an early protocol on the Bitcoin network, ORC20 has attracted substantial global attention and has been mentioned by major exchanges like OKX and Binance, giving it solid traffic foundations. Despite facing challenges at times, its future development remains worth watching.
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