ORC-20 Transactions Hit Record High
The crypto community is abuzz with discussions about ORC-20, a new token standard designed to enhance the BRC-20 craze. So, what exactly is ORC-20?
ORC-20 Transactions Reach Record High
Following the release of Binance Academy’s article on ORC-20, the number of ORC-20 transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain surged to a record high of 72,200 on May 13. Of these transactions, approximately 70,000 ORC-20 Inscriptions were minted, and 5.8 BTC was paid in transaction fees.
After Binance Academy published a blog post about ORC-20 Token, the number of ORC-20 transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain in a single day reached 72,200 on May 13, a record high, of which about 70,000 ORC-20 Inscriptions were minted. 5.8 BTC was paid. In addition, these ORC-20…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 14, 2023
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 14, 2023
In total, 14.41 BTC was used to cover the gas fees for these transactions.
Source: Dune Analytics
Most ORC-20 tokens are concentrated in categories like PUNK, PEPE, and MEME. On the same day, BRC-20 transactions numbered around 265,000.
Source: Dune Analytics
According to Binance, ORC-20 is an open standard designed to address the limitations of BRC-20. The goal of ORC-20 is to maintain backward compatibility with BRC-20 while improving adaptability, scalability, and security.
ORC-20 uses Bitcoin’s UTXO transaction model. When transferring funds, the sender specifies the amount the recipient will receive, and any leftover balance is returned to the sender, simplifying the transaction process. This method also allows for transaction reversal.
In contrast, BRC-20 is a token issuance method created on Bitcoin in March 2022, utilizing the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol. BRC-20 allows users to encode text segments into the Bitcoin blockchain, which can then be used to create NFTs and, more recently, ordered sequences with a token code to form a token on the Bitcoin network.
You may be familiar with BRC-20 tokens, but have you heard about ORC-20 tokens?
— Binance Academy (@BinanceAcademy) May 13, 2023
The ORC-20 protocol builds on Ordinals and the BRC-20 token standard.
Learn more about ORC-20 tokens and how it compares with BRC-20 tokens ⬇️https://t.co/XVomctnq1s pic.twitter.com/Oehsf6W3Hl
BRC-20 has been a hot topic recently, even surpassing a $1 billion market cap, especially with the rise of memecoins like Pepe (PEPE) this month. The surge in Bitcoin network usage led to spikes in transaction fees and congestion. Earlier this month, Binance had to halt BTC withdrawals twice due to transaction congestion, resolving the issue only by increasing miner fees. Bitcoin miner revenue also surpassed block rewards for the first time since 2017.
- See also: BRC-20 Token Nearly Hits $1 Billion Market Cap
However, before investing in ORC-20, users should be aware that ORC-20 is still an experimental project and there is no guarantee of value for tokens created under this standard. While ORC-20 theoretically improves token standards for Bitcoin, there has been criticism suggesting that it is complex and does not offer significant advantages over existing standards.
