Magic Eden announces support for BRC-20 tokens

• Magic Eden has announced that the platform now supports BRC-20 tokens.
• The platform wants to merge NFTs and Bitcoin-based tokens.

Multi-chain NFT marketplace Magic Eden has announced the inclusion of support for BRC-20 tokens, thereby expanding its Ordinals offerings to encompass tokens built on the Bitcoin network. The integration of BRC-20 support is scheduled for Tuesday at 8 pm ET, according to a spokesperson from Magic Eden.

Magic Eden will support tokens built on the Bitcoin network

This development allows users not only to trade BRC-20 tokens on the secondary market but also to create new tokens on the Bitcoin network. Traders will be able to mint these tokens directly through Magic Eden’s launchpad, which provides premium services for creators, including marketing and strategy support.

Following the successful debut of its Ordinals marketplace in March, Magic Eden quickly established itself as a prominent venue for Bitcoin-based collectibles. By embracing the NFT-like Ordinals amid the rising hype, Magic Eden capitalized on its reputation in the nascent space. With the inclusion of BRC-20 tokens, Magic Eden aims to further delve into the emerging realm of assets built on the Bitcoin network. This strategic move positions Magic Eden, originally an NFT marketplace on Solana, as both a crypto token exchange and an NFT marketplace, solidifying its lead in the industry.

Co-founder and COO of Magic Eden, Zhuoxun Yin, expressed excitement about this development and stated that it is the beginning of their journey to build the best NFT platform for the Bitcoin ecosystem. Currently, Magic Eden and crypto exchange OKX are competing for the top spot in terms of transaction volume for Ordinal inscriptions. Public blockchain data collected through a Dune dashboard indicates comparable flows between the two platforms over the past week.

The platform strives to merge NFTs and Bitcoin tokens

Regarding BRC-20 trades on Magic Eden, a small transaction fee will be charged. Furthermore, for newly-inscribed BRC-20 tokens facilitated through the launchpad, Magic Eden plans to donate half of the associated fees to the Ordinals protocol team, demonstrating their commitment to supporting builders in the space. Magic Eden’s Bitcoin GM, Chris Akhavan, highlighted that over 40 different creators have already utilized the Ordinals launchpad. He attributed its popularity to the platform’s smooth user experience and extensive reach, making it a favorite among creators.

Ordinals, developed by Casey Rodarmor earlier this year, is a protocol that enables the creation of NFT-like assets on the Bitcoin network. By “inscribing” data to individual satoshis (the smallest unit of Bitcoin), Ordinals allows for the inclusion of various types of information, including images and text-based inscriptions.

While image-based inscriptions initially gained traction, the introduction of BRC-20 tokens by the pseudonymous on-chain data enthusiast known as Domo sparked a surge in text-based inscriptions. These text-based inscriptions are used to create, trade, and mint BRC-20 tokens, resulting in around 85,000 text-based inscriptions compared to approximately 3,600 image-based inscriptions on Monday, as reported by a Dune dashboard. The popularity of BRC-20 tokens has occasionally placed significant strain on the Bitcoin network, leading to skyrocketing transaction fees. Last month, a flurry of text-based inscriptions drew criticism from some members of the Bitcoin community.

The market capitalization of BRC-20 tokens has reached $261 million since their introduction, primarily driven by ORDI, the initial BRC-20 token created by Domo and valued at $155 million, according to CoinGecko. Although ORDI reached a peak trading price of $28.51, it has since declined to $7.44 at the time of writing. ORDI has seen a trading volume of nearly $20 million in the past 24 hours.