STX20

What Is STX20?

STX20 is a lightweight token standard for the Stacks blockchain, enabling fungible token creation via inscriptions in the memo field of STX transactions—no smart contracts required. Inspired by Bitcoin minimalism and Ordinals logic, it offers a gas-efficient, decentralized way to deploy, mint, and transfer tokens.

Especially relevant with the upcoming Nakamoto upgrade, STX20 aligns perfectly with Stacks’ push toward faster finality and deeper Bitcoin integration.

🔧 How STX20 Works

STX20 encodes simple actions (deploy, mint, transfer) in the 34-character memo field of STX transactions. Off-chain indexers read these memos and determine token state using deterministic rules.

No contracts, no gas logic — just on-chain data.

Example Formats:

• Deploy: {operation}{ticker}{total_supply};{limit_per_mint}

• Mint: {operation}{ticker}{amount}

• Transfer: {operation}{ticker}{amount}

💡 Key Features

• No smart contract needed — pure on-chain data

• Ultra-lightweight — fits within memo field

• Minimal fees — even 0.000001 STX is enough

• Immutable — all inscriptions permanently recorded

🧱 Origin of STX20 Tokens

Tokens are deployed by sending a minimal STX transaction with a deploy memo specifying:

• Ticker (3–8 uppercase letters)

• Total supply

• Per-mint limit

After deployment, users can mint or transfer using the same memo logic. No token logic lives in smart contracts — the entire system runs on chain data and indexer interpretation.