BEP-20 vs ERC-20: Which chain is more cost-effective for issuing coins?

Question

In the early years, if you wanted to issue a new coin, you had to create your own blockchain, which had an absurdly high threshold. The emergence of Ethereum changed the situation— the ERC-20 standard allowed anyone to easily create coins on Ethereum. Later, Binance followed suit and launched BSC (BNB Smart Chain), which also introduced a BEP-20 standard, essentially a “twin brother” of ERC-20.

Why Should There Be Token Standards?

Token standards are like a “Lego instruction manual” — they establish a set of unified rules that allow developers to build according to the same logic. Without standards, each project has to reinvent the wheel, which not only wastes time but also makes it easy to introduce bugs.

What is BEP-20?

In simple terms: BEP-20 is a template used for issuing coins on BSC. It inherits the essence of ERC-20 but runs on Binance's own chain. Want to issue coins on BSC? Use the BEP-20 standard.

Core Functions:

Blacklist: Prohibit interaction with malicious addresses
Mintable: Increase token supply (inflation)
Burnable: Reduce token supply (deflation, used most for pump)
Can be paused: Stop transfers in emergencies (defense against attacks, but high degree of centralization)

What is the difference between BEP-20 and ERC-20?

To be honest: it doesn't make much difference. Both are token standards with basically the same functionality. The only difference is that one runs on Ethereum and the other on BSC.

Binance also created a “bridge” that allows these two chains to interconnect—ERC-20 tokens can be converted to BEP-20 and vice versa, the conversion is free of charge. Some call it the “twin model,” which is indeed a fitting name.

Who to issue coins?

Advantages of BSC:

Gas fees are cheap (Ethereum is now ridiculously expensive)
Fast transaction speed
Ecologically mature, many DeFi projects

Advantages of Ethereum:

High liquidity, many users
High security approval rate
Strong brand effect

In fact, many projects are now deployed on dual chains—issuing on both Ethereum and BSC, in order to attract users from both sides.

Underlined: Token standards are just tools; what matters most is the project itself. Don't be fooled by the name of the blockchain; it's much more important to see who the project team is and whether they are reliable than which blockchain to choose.