What is an MRC-20 token?
To understand what an MRC-20 token is, you first need to understand what Maya Protocol is. The good thing is, I already have you covered. Last week, I wrote and article on how to get started with Maya Protocol, so check that out to learn more. Now that you're a Maya expert and you're ready to go full degen mode... Let's talk about MRC-20 tokens.
An MRC-20 token is similar to ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum or Ordinals on Bitcoin. It's a token standard that is used on Maya, just like how there are tokens on Ethereum. These are fungible tokens that can be minted, traded, and really anything else you can think of. The possibilities are endless. Just look at the insane list of tokens on Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain.
Pretty simple concept, I hope. We've all used some kind of token on some blockchain, at least once. There will be more and more that come out that are used for different things. Maya Protocol also has support for NFTs in the form of M-NFTs, which I will cover in a later article.
How to create an MRC-20 token
First, you will need to get yourself some $CACAO for fees. You'll need 100 CACAO for the deployment and a few CACAO any other transactions you do. Check out the article linked above if you don't know how to get CACAO.
Step 1
Head to MayaScan and click MRC-20 Tools. It will be about half-way down the page.
Step 2
Click "Deploy a new MRC-20 token".
Step 3
Choose a ticker name and max supply. The ticker of Ethereum is ETH. The ticker of Bitcoin is BTC. The ticker you choose is not case-sensitive, and must be unique. This will essentially be the name of your token, so choose wisely. The max supply is how many tokens can be issued in total.
Step 4
Set a Mint price and Mint limit. This is optional, but if you want people to be able to mint the token instead of you having to send it to people... Set this. Mint Limit will make it so the user can only mint that amount one time. Mint Price is how much CACAO each token will cost the user.
Step 5
Time to deploy. Copy the address and custom memo text generated for you, and send that with 100 CACAO. Once you have sent 100 CACAO to the address listed with the custom memo, your MRC-20 token will be automatically indexed by MayaScan.
Congratulations!
You've just launched your own MRC-20 token on Maya Protocol! Now people will be able to Mint, Buy, and Sell on MayaScan with CACAO. You will be able to see your token and interact with it on MayaScan MRC-20. As the platform evolves more, I'm sure there will be an easier interface that requires almost no effort. For now, this is what we have to work with and it can be confusing.
If you made it this far and have a Maya address, drop a comment with it and I will send you some $BEANS for free! $BEANS is my MRC-20 token that has no use-case or purpose. It's just BEANS.
Let me know if you have any questions.