If you think you see orange, it’s because you are. Twitter is abuzz with users showing off orange-themed profile pictures to pay homage to $OXBT, a BRC-20 token that is rapidly gaining popularity. If you’re not familiar with BRC-20, it’s an experimental token standard that allows fungible tokens to be minted and traded through the Ordinals protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Mfers hit one brc20 and turn their pfp background orange $oxbt pic.twitter.com/tKCR7OI5Fr
— bourne (👮♂️,🐸) (@bourne2invest) May 27, 2023
Contrary to expectations, Bitcoin NFTs have emerged as the frontrunners in the market and show no signs of fading in the foreseeable future. Therefore, like everything else in Web3, education is key. To understand what $OXBT is, it is essential to first gain a comprehensive understanding of BRC-20 tokens.
What is a BRC-20 Token?
Bitcoin Request for Comment 20 (BRC-20) tokens were created in March 2023 by Domo, an anonymous developer. BRC-20 tokens are similar to ERC-20 tokens, which are built on the Ethereum blockchain.
“This is just a fun experimental standard that demonstrates that you can create off-chain balance states with inscriptions. It should by no means be considered THE standard for fungibility on Bitcoin with Ordinals, as I believe there can almost certainly be better design choices and optimization improvements be made,” Domo said in a statement on the official website.
“However, I encourage the Bitcoin community to tinker with standard designs and optimizations until a general consensus on best practices is reached.”
The first BRC-20 token
At the time of writing, approximately 30,657 BRC-20 tokens have been minted and currently 24,968. However, the one that started it all was $ORDI. It is the first BRC-20 token ever staked and currently has a market cap of 7482.30 BTC ($208 million) at the time of writing.
This also led to the creation and launch of other new BRC-20 tokens, including $MEME and $PUNK. Enthusiasm around BRC-20 tokens began to build, resulting in a record 30,000 Ordinal inscriptions in a single day.
How to set up a wallet
Make sure you have a wallet set up before you can mint. Go to Unisat.io and download the Chrome extension or the wallet app. Once you have opened the wallet, choose the option to create a new wallet and create a password. After this, UniSat generates a 12-word recovery phrase (keep it safe).
You will then be prompted to select a network. Choose Taproot Network. By choosing this network, you can now use BRC-20 tokens with your UniSat wallet. You now have an address that starts with “bc1p”.
How to save and buy
You can mint BRC-20 tokens by providing your token’s name, symbol and total supply on the Unistat website. Set transaction fees and click the “Mint Tokens” button.
To buy BRC-20 tokens, you need to visit a BRC-20 exchange like Alex. Once you find an exchange you want to use, you need to create an account and deposit Bitcoin into your account. Then place an order at the fair.
What is $OXBT?
$OXBT mint will go live in about 12 hours.
Here’s how to coin 🧵 pic.twitter.com/uGaNB7ygGQ
— ▇▇▇▇ (@RedactedBTCNFT) May 25, 2023
$OXBT is a token created by Bitgod21a free coin launched on May 25. The launch is important because it passed five thousand new users of Bitcoin. In less than a week since its inception, $OXBT has already reached an impressive market cap of 1188.58 BTC ($32 million).
▇▇▇▇ is coming… pic.twitter.com/bYAl0wFbkp
— ▇▇▇▇ (@RedactedBTCNFT) May 30, 2023
While nothing has been explicitly announced, holders are speculating on various types of announcements, including a possible airdrop, Ordinals mint and collaboration with Frankdegods. What they have said is that they are “working hard on ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.”
Sats names
Sats names (.sat) are similar to domain names on the Internet, making it easy for users to remember and type website addresses. If you have an Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain name, it is effectively the Bitcoin equivalent. Sats names are stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, which means they are decentralized and cannot be censored.
To register a sats name you need to make a Bitcoin transaction with the name you want to register and the fee you are willing to pay. The first person to create a transaction for a given name is the owner of that name. You can then update the name by creating another transaction with the new name and fee.
How do you register your .sats name?
-Download Unisat’s Chrome extension from their website
– Fund your BTC wallet (with fees it costs $5)
-Go back to the Unisat website > Go to register > click on .sats names > enter the desired name, for example “Elenaa.sats” > click on next5/10 pic.twitter.com/xbFMgXZlJI
— Elena🌸 (@ElenaETH) May 30, 2023
Navigating the world of Bitcoin can often feel bewildering and overwhelming, especially when new developments keep popping up in the space. Please note that BRC-20 tokens are a new type of asset and the market for them is still developing. As a result, prices of BRC-20 tokens can be volatile.