What is a B20 token, and how do you launch one?

B20 is Base's native token standard. It landed in mid-2026 and it changes how tokens work at the chain level — not as a contract you deploy, but as something the chain itself understands. Here's what that actually means, why it's cheaper, and how to launch one.

B20 in one paragraph

A normal ERC-20 token is a smart contract. Every transfer runs that contract's code, and you pay gas for the privilege. B20 moves the token logic into a precompile — code built into the chain itself, living at a fixed address. Your token still looks and behaves like an ERC-20 to wallets, exchanges, and block explorers (same interface, same transfer, same balanceOf), but the heavy lifting happens natively. The result: cheaper transfers and less bytecode to deploy.

B20 vs ERC-20: what actually differs

The important thing to understand is that B20 is a superset, not a replacement. Anything that works with ERC-20 works with B20.

• Where the logic lives. ERC-20: in your deployed contract. B20: in a chain-level precompile.
• Cost. B20 transfers are cheaper because they skip contract execution overhead.
• Creation. ERC-20: deploy your own bytecode. B20: call the factory precompile at 0xB20f…0000 and it creates the token for you.
• Compatibility. Identical. Wallets, DEXs, and explorers treat a B20 token as an ERC-20.
• Variants. B20 has an Asset variant (regular tokens) and a Stablecoin variant with extra controls.

The part that matters most: admin-less tokens

When a B20 token is created, you choose who its admin is. Set the admin to the zero address and the token becomes permanently admin-less: nobody — not the creator, not the launchpad, not anyone — can ever mint more supply, pause transfers, freeze a balance, or change its rules. Combine that with a supply cap locked at creation and you have a token that is provably incapable of a rug pull.

This is a genuinely meaningful property, and it's worth checking on any token you consider buying. Most rugs are not exotic hacks — they are simply an admin key doing exactly what it was always allowed to do.

How to launch a B20 token on Base

You can call the factory precompile yourself if you're comfortable with Solidity. If you'd rather not, our launcher does it in one transaction and gives the token an instant market.

1. Get on Base with a little ETH

Connect any EVM wallet (MetaMask, Rabby, Coinbase Wallet) and switch to Base mainnet — chain ID 8453. You'll need a small amount of ETH on Base for the create fee and gas. Bridging from Ethereum or buying directly on Base both work.

2. Pick your token's details

A name, a symbol (up to 11 characters), and a total supply. Supply is a real decision, not a formality: it sets your token's starting price, because price begins at the curve's virtual reserve divided by supply. A 1-billion supply starts very cheap per token; a 1-million supply starts a thousand times higher. Neither is "better" — but pick deliberately.

3. Confirm — and ignore the scary warning

Here's a quirk worth knowing about: your wallet will probably show "simulation failed" or fail to estimate gas. This is not a problem with your transaction. B20 is a brand-new precompile, and most wallet simulators don't understand it yet, so they give up and show a warning. The transaction goes through fine. This will stop happening as wallets add B20 support.

4. It's tradeable immediately

On our launcher, the entire supply is minted straight into a constant-product bonding curve. There's no liquidity to seed, no pool to create, no order book to fill. Buying moves the price up the curve; selling moves it back down. The token is live the second the transaction confirms.

What a bonding curve actually does

A bonding curve is a formula that prices a token against a reserve. Ours uses the classic constant-product rule (the same maths as Uniswap) seeded with a virtual ETH reserve, so there's a sensible price from the very first trade rather than a division by zero.

The practical upshot: liquidity is guaranteed. You can always sell back to the curve — there doesn't need to be a buyer on the other side. The trade-off is slippage: large trades move the price significantly, by design.

Should you launch a token at all?

Honest answer: launching is easy, and that's exactly why most launched tokens go nowhere. The technology guarantees fairness — it cannot guarantee demand. A token is worth something because people want it, and a launchpad can't manufacture that.

So treat a launch as the start of the work, not the end of it. And if you're buying rather than launching: assume any newly launched token can go to zero, check that it's genuinely admin-less, and never put in more than you can afford to lose.

This guide is informational and is not financial advice. Tokens launched on any platform, including ours, can lose all their value. Our launchpad contract is unaudited experimental software — use small amounts and do your own research.