If you’ve spent any time in crypto, you’re used to the idea that tokens live inside smart contracts. On Ethereum, Solana, and most other chains, tokens aren’t native — they’re managed by programs that live on-chain, enforcing balances and rules. Bitcoin doesn’t work that way.

There are no smart contracts on Bitcoin — not in the way you think of them, at least. Bitcoin’s base layer is intentionally simple. It doesn’t execute arbitrary code. It doesn’t have an account model. It doesn’t let you just “deploy” a contract and start issuing tokens.

So how do you put tokens on Bitcoin? The answer: metaprotocols — systems that extend Bitcoin by embedding additional information into regular Bitcoin transactions. Instead of deploying new logic to the chain, metaprotocols work on top of Bitcoin’s existing rules, using its transactions as a foundation while keeping token data indexed off-chain.

Over the years, we’ve seen a wave of attempts to bring tokens to Bitcoin — Ordinals, BRC-20, RGB, Taproot Assets, and more. Each one is impressive in its own right, but none have really scaled.

What does scaling actually mean? Liquidity. Tens — if not hundreds — of billions of dollars secured under a single standard.

We’re incredibly opinionated on how this plays out: liquidity will consolidate around stablecoins. The Bitcoin standard that wins will be the one that integrates with every stablecoin issuer — meeting them exactly where they are. From the biggest players to the most niche issuers, adoption at scale is the only thing that matters.

And yet, today? Not a single major stablecoin issuer has been onboarded. Zero. If someone tells you they’re planning to? Look at the fine print. Implementation details have a way of disappearing when it’s time to ship.

We evaluated everything and came to a clear conclusion: only one protocol fits the bill. It’s called LRC-20.