Recently, as the BRC 2.0 upgrade approaches, related assets have sparked a wealth effect, drawing the attention of degens in the market back to the Bitcoin ecosystem. Over the past month, the trading price of Adderrels, the leading NFT project in the BRC 2.0 series, has skyrocketed from 0.0001269 BTC (approximately $15) to 0.019 BTC (around $2,300), delivering over a 100x return on investment.

What changes will the BRC 2.0 upgrade bring to the BRC-20 protocol? What are the current peripheral assets and trends? Odaily Planet Daily will briefly introduce the BRC 2.0 upgrade and review the conceptual assets and their dynamics in the market.

Overview of the BRC 2.0 Upgrade

BRC 2.0 is not a new protocol but an upgrade to the BRC-20 protocol introduced by Best in Slot, a core co-maintainer of the BRC-20 protocol. In short, this upgrade aims to enable EVM-compatible smart contract functionality for all BRC-20 tokens, supporting advanced financial applications like DeFi, stablecoins, DeFAI, DAO, and RWA.

The Best in Slot team began planning this upgrade in January 2025 and has garnered widespread support from the BRC-20 ecosystem, including the Layer 1 Foundation led by BRC-20 creator domo, Unisat, OKX Wallet, and others. Simply put, BRC 2.0 is not a "wildcat protocol" but a deliberate effort by core builders to bring BRC-20 back into the spotlight.

However, the programmable approach of the BRC 2.0 upgrade is not particularly groundbreaking, as it falls under an off-chain processing solution. As shown in the diagram below, Best in Slot has designed a BRC 2.0 programmable module where the EVM executor integrates with the BRC-20 indexer, and the final state updates are entirely handled by the BRC-20 indexer on the Bitcoin blockchain. In other words, the "EVM executor" does not run on the public chain, and users must trust the BRC-20 indexer to correctly update on-chain contract interactions. Additionally, Best in Slot has hinted at creating a gas-free appchain for BTCFi to eliminate Bitcoin’s 10-minute latency and fee barriers.

Consequently, some in the market argue that BRC 2.0’s programmable approach lacks sufficient decentralization and carries single-point failure risks.

Leading NFT Surges 100x in a Month—Will BRC 2.0 Upgrade Ignite a New BTC Ecosystem Wave?

Beyond programmability, Best in Slot has introduced Ordinal Locker to enhance interoperability between BRC-20 and Ordinals. This feature leverages Bitcoin’s time-lock mechanism, allowing users to lock Ordinals assets and unlocking BRC-20 use cases like mining, staking, airdrops, or voting. Ordinal Locker supports five lock duration options: 1 hour, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. The rapid surge in the floor price of Adderrels, the leading BRC 2.0 concept NFT, is also tied to this functionality.

BRC 2.0 to Launch on Mainnet on August 14

According to Best in Slot’s official roadmap, the BRC 2.0 upgrade will proceed in two phases:

Phase 1: Enable 6-character BRC-20 tokens and launch a launchpad

Phase 1 will activate at block height 909969 (around August 14). Upon BRC 2.0’s mainnet launch, 6-character BRC-20 tokens will be enabled (currently, BRC-20 only supports 4- and 5-character tokens), allowing anyone to deploy 6-character BRC-20 tokens. These new tokens will immediately gain "programmability."

Additionally, Best in Slot will release a customized launchpad for creating programmable virtual assets based on BRC 2.0.

Phase 2: Make all BRC-20 tokens programmable

Phase 2 will occur at block 914888 (around September 17). After this phase, both 4- and 5-character BRC-20 tokens will become programmable.

BRC 2.0 Revives Pre-Runes Trends

Even though the BRC 2.0 upgrade has yet to arrive and 6-character BRC-20 tokens are not yet issuable, the market has already begun speculating on Pre-BRC 2.0 concept assets—mirroring the Pre-Runes frenzy before the Runes protocol’s official launch in 2024. These NFT projects claim they will airdrop BRC 2.0 tokens in the future, though some are outright "pump-and-dump" schemes. Below is a rundown of popular Pre-BRC 2.0 assets—investors should exercise caution.

Adderrels

Adderrels is the first BRC 2.0 concept NFT, with a total supply of 3,420. Minting opened on July 1 at 0.0001269 BTC (~$15), and the current floor price is 0.013 BTC (~$1,600), marking a 100x gain.

On July 10, Adderrels released its tokenomics: a total supply of 1 billion tokens, with 15% allocated to the treasury, 10% to liquidity pools, 28% to holder airdrops, 27% to NFT staking rewards, 10% to public sales, and 10% to social initiatives. So far, 2,041 NFTs (59.7% of the total supply) have been locked via Ordinal Locker. The team also announced an unannounced airdrop snapshot before BRC 2.0’s launch.

LIQUID

LIQUID claims to be the first Pre-BRC 2.0 token minted on Ordinals, with a total supply of 50,000 NFTs (each representing 1,000 LiQUID tokens, totaling 50 million tokens). Free minting began on July 25, and the current floor price is 0.000078 BTC (~$8), with a market cap of just $400,000. According to the team, holding the NFT qualifies users for the airdrop—no staking required.

Early Birds

Early Birds bills itself as the first BRC 2.0 NFT series with staking functionality. Its total supply is 5,000 NFTs, each corresponding to 1,000 birdie tokens to be airdropped after the BRC 2.0 upgrade. The current floor price is 0.00063 BTC, with 1,877 NFTs staked (37.5% staking rate). Stakers earn additional token rewards.

buttmullets

buttmullets is an NFT project closely tied to Adderrels. All Adderrels staking addresses are whitelisted and eligible for future token airdrops. Due to this connection, its minting (total supply: 3,333 at 0.00012 BTC each) sold out quickly after opening on July 28. The current floor price is 0.00058 BTC (~$60).

Griftmo

Griftmo has a total supply of 3,888 NFTs, with a public sale price of 0.00008 BTC (minting opened on July 28). It is now listed on Magic Eden with a floor price of 0.00009 BTC—almost unchanged from the public sale price. The project has not announced any BRC 2.0-related airdrops but has still received official engagement from Best in Slot.

Currently, the Pre-BRC 2.0 asset space is a mixed bag, with low barriers to whitelist access or official interaction. Investors should tread carefully.