B20 is not a third-party contract — it shipped as part of Base’s official Beryl network upgrade on June 25, 2026. NAT20 is built on a protocol-level standard, not a one-off ERC-20 clone.

Because transfers execute as a native precompile instead of EVM bytecode, transfer costs are roughly half those of a standard ERC-20 — with higher throughput and less state for nodes to store.

A B20 token looks identical to an ERC-20 to everything downstream. Existing wallets, exchanges, indexers, and Basescan support it with no new integrations required.

Roles, supply caps, pausing, policy gating, memos, and permit are baked directly into the protocol. Issuers inherit safety from the chain instead of rewriting and re-auditing the same custom logic.

Permissions split into distinct roles (DEFAULT_ADMIN_ROLE, MINT_ROLE, BURN_ROLE, PAUSE_ROLE, and more). Notably, holding admin does not let you mint — minting requires the separate MINT_ROLE.

A B20 token’s supply cap is a protocol-enforced ceiling — minting beyond it reverts. NAT20 is capped at 1,000,000 and already at its hard cap.

Transfers can carry an optional bytes32 memo (a payment ID or reference) that emits a Memo event, letting apps verify payments on-chain without a backend database.

B20 implements ERC-2612 permits, so holders can approve spenders with a signature instead of a separate transaction — a smoother, gasless-feeling UX.