Meet OP-20: BRC-20 but with Higher Fees

Just a day after it was announced that the next Bitcoin Core release would lift the 80-byte limit for OP_RETURN outputs, we already saw a new use case appear.

Someone created a token format reminiscent of BRC-20, but instead of storing the data in an inscription (as the BRC-20 standard does), they embedded it directly into the OP_RETURN output. The creator dubbed this new format “OP-20”.

Yes, tokens are trending. Just look at Solana - over 1.2 million new SPL tokens were minted in April alone. So it’s no surprise that updates to Bitcoin’s most widely used client are also being picked up to serve token use cases first.

But what’s the point? OP-20 tokens are functionally identical to BRC-20 - except transactions that use OP_RETURN are about 4 times more expensive than inscriptions. That means issuing or transferring these tokens will burn significantly more BTC.

Would you use this new token format? Should we consider supporting OP-20 swaps on rabbit.io?