Charms

About Charms

Bitcoin's Universal App Protocol

Charms is a programmable token protocol for Bitcoin and beyond. It enables anyone to launch and trade smart assets natively on Bitcoin, and to move them between chains without bridges, custodians, or middlemen. Charms assets use client-side validation and zero-knowledge proofs to maintain full trustlessness and cross-chain portability.

What makes Charms different from Runes or Ordinals?

Ordinals and Runes have no custom logic, and rely on centralized indexers. RGB isn’t easily interoperable with other ecosystems.

Charms are different. They're programmable, cross-chain, and backward compatible with legacy standards like ERC-20 and CNTs. Build once, deploy anywhere.

How do charms live across chains without bridges?

Charms uses a chain-agnostic proof layer. Each asset is governed by recursive zkVM proofs that allow its state and transaction history to be verified across chains without trusting a third party.

Is Charms decentralized?

Yes. Charms assets are validated entirely client-side — there’s no centralized indexer or oracle. Proofs are generated and verified by users. Ownership guarantees are exactly as strong as a Bitcoin UTXO.

Can any wallet use Charms?

Only Charms-compatible Bitcoin wallets can see and safely manage charms, such as Charms Wallet. On some chains, Charms may be backwards compatible with legacy token standards (ex. CNTs on Cardano) such that they are compatible with any mainstream wallet on that chain.

Who should use Charms?

Charms is the perfect foundation for projects that

1. want to spearhead the programmable Bitcoin economy,
2. stay flexible through cross compatibility with existing chains / ecosystems / communities.

For users, Charms is for those who:

1. Want a Bitcoin native DeFi experience for BTC holders
2. Want to safely move *any* asset between chains without custodial risk.