NFT marketplace Magic Eden has announced that it will include BRC-20 token functionality in its open-source secondary marketplace and creator launchpad, according to information now being shared with nft. The announcement comes just two months after the platform introduced Launchpad for Bitcoin Ordinals, the protocol that allows NFTs to be traded on the Bitcoin blockchain.
The update, which goes into effect on June 27 at 8 p.m. ET, will allow users to collect BRC-20 projects immediately. It also allows creators to release their own BRC-20 drops to hit directly on the platform itself.
Expansion of an emerging Web3 ecosystem
Bitcoin Request for Comment 20 (BRC-20) tokens are one of the most recent developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Created in March 2023 by the anonymous developer known as domo, the token standard enables the storage and transfer of fungible tokens using the Ordinals protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain. They are similar to ERC-20 tokens, the Ethereum blockchain protocol standard for creating tokens with built-in smart contracts and are compatible with the broader Ethereum ecosystem.
Commonly used ERC-20 tokens are USD Coin (USDC) and Binance USD (BUSD) and are instantly tradable on exchanges. While previously users could take advantage of platforms like Unisat and Alex to interact with BRC-20s, their Web3 infrastructure is similarly much less developed compared to ERC-20s. The inclusion of Magic Eden could help to significantly expand the token’s reach and accessibility.
“Our goal has always been to reduce fragmentation between Bitcoin rankings and BRC-20,” Zhuoxun Yin, co-founder and COO of Magic Eden, said of the development in a press release. “By incorporating BRC-20 into our platform, we are on a mission to simplify the user experience. This is an important step in our quest to design the most comprehensive NFT platform for the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
Ordinals on the rise
Bitcoin Ordinals first debuted in January 2023 and was largely seen as something more than a new development that would only pique the interest of a niche audience, even with Web3. Despite this, the ecosystem has continued to grow exponentially, leading to over 13 million Ordinals inscriptions being slapped on the blockchain and projects from a range of blockchain ecosystems creating Ordinals collections. With no signs of slowing down, Web3 companies are looking for ways to capitalize on the expanding Bitcoin exchangeable and non-exchangeable world, and Magic Eden is unlikely to be the last to do so.
