BEP-20 is a token standard used on BNB Smart Chain. Think of it as a common set of rules that every fungible token on the network follows so wallets, exchanges, and apps all speak the same language. It was designed to resemble Ethereum’s ERC-20 so developers and users would find it familiar.
What the standard is for
The standard gives a blueprint for creating and managing tokens on BNB Smart Chain. It sets the basics like how a token can be sent, who can spend it with permission, and how software checks balances. This shared playbook helps different apps on the chain work with the same tokens without custom integrations.
Typical actions include transferring tokens between addresses, approving another address to spend on your behalf, and reading account balances. These behaviors are part of the interface that dapps and wallets expect when they connect to a BEP-20 token.
Moving BEP-20 tokens costs network fees paid in BNB. Validators collect these fees for processing transactions on the blockchain. If you want to send a BEP-20 token, you need a little BNB in the same wallet to cover the gas.
BEP-20 was built as an ERC-20-style standard for BNB Smart Chain. Because the designs are so close, porting ERC-20 concepts and code to BNB Smart Chain is straightforward, and the two standards share familiar ideas such as supply definitions and transfer rules.
BEP-2 is the token standard for BNB Beacon Chain, while BEP-20 is for BNB Smart Chain. They run side by side and are interoperable, which lets users move value between the two environments. BNB acts as the native currency across both to keep things running.
Projects use BEP-20 to launch many kinds of assets: utility tokens for dapps, stablecoins that mirror fiat, and “pegged” versions of assets from other blockchains so they can circulate on BNB Smart Chain. Binance’s “Peggy” models are examples of these pegged tokens.
The format is flexible and developer-friendly, which makes it practical for launching a wide range of tokens. It aligns with BNB Smart Chain’s focus on quick confirmations and low fees, so tokens are easy to issue and cheap to move in everyday use.