Over the past two weeks, members of the cryptocurrency community have been discussing the concept of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) known as Ordinals. Since the 3.96MB block (#774,628) was mined, there has been a significant increase in Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Ordinary Inscriptions on Bitcoin Blockchain Spark Debate Among Crypto Community
The controversial NFT concept known as Ordinals, which uses the Bitcoin blockchain to create inscriptions, has been a hot topic lately. Since its introduction, there has been a marked increase in the number of inscriptions being added to the Bitcoin blockchain in a permissionless manner. This includes JPEG images, NFTs from other blockchains like Bored Apes, and even one DOOM video game file. The biggest surprise was when the Luxor mining pool mined a 3.96MB block (#774,628) containing Ordinal Inscription #652, a JPEG image of a Wizard.
Charts show an increase in Ordinal coins since February 2, 3.96 MB block mined by Luxor.
Since that block was mined, the number of minted Ordinals has increased further and the coinage has grown significantly since the project began. According to statistics from Dune Analytics, there were fewer than 10 Ordinals minted daily until 20 January 2023. By January 22, the number rose to 36. On January 29, 2023, there were over 100 mints, and the next two days saw the numbers just under 75. After the Luxor block with inscription #652 was produced, the number of mints increased to 420 on 2 February 2023, and the following day saw 203 Ordinal inscriptions.
Transactions involving taproot spending have increased a lot this year.
There have also been quite a few large blocks, which have not quite reached 4 MB, but close to the 3 MB range. For example, block heights #774,997 and #774,996 were near the 3MB range, larger than the previous record, before Luxor’s block, of 2,765MB (#748,918) mined on August 11, 2022. Despite the fact that on Feb. 4 2023, is not over, 547 Ordinal inscriptions have already been added to the Bitcoin blockchain on Saturday, making it the highest daily number of Ordinal coins to date. Currently, the proportion of block space used by Ordinal inscriptions is not significant, but it is growing daily.
Bitcoin maximalists and small block advocates express concern about the Ordinal Inscriptions and share their opinions on the matter. Bitcoin advocate Jimmy Song has claimed that the Luxor mining pool will be “punished by the market” and suggested that smaller blocks may be needed. “Unpopular Opinion,” Song tweeted, “If inscriptions start to inflate the chain, a reduced block size needs to be considered.” The problem has drawn criticism from Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr, who has often stated that ordinary inscriptions are similar to “attacking Bitcoin.”
Crypto supporter and “Taproot Wizard #2”, otherwise known as Eric Wall, has shared a large number of memes on the subject.
Blockstream’s Adam Back has also commented on the situation and expressed his opinion. “You can’t stop them, of course,” Back so. “Bitcoin is designed to be censorship resistant. That doesn’t stop us from mildly commenting on the sheer wastefulness and stupidity of an encoding. At least do something efficient. Otherwise, it’s just another proof of consumption block-space thing. » Others have referred to Ordinals as a “spam attack“, and some have called on developers to solve the problem with a soft fork. “Ordinals are an attack on Bitcoin,” Derek Ross tweeted. “It is being orchestrated by known bad actors,” he added.
Many others disagree in calling Ordinal inscriptions an attack. Crypto lawyer Udi Wertheimer tweeted: “Bitcoin maximalists are not real bitcoiners. Real bitcoiners are a happy bunch who like to have fun. Hal Finney, for example, would have loved [Taproot Wizards] Bitcoin NFTs. Let’s make bitcoin fun again.” Wertheimer shared an old Hal Finney email sent to Cypherpunk’s mailing list that discussed “crypto trading cards.” Digital currency supporter Eric Wall emphasized this week that no Bitcoin maximalists celebrated the increase in Taproot adoption.
“After 14 months of taproot adoption below 3%, we suddenly hit 99.5% taproot adoption this week, and not a single Bitcoin maximalist celebrated,” Wall said. “I don’t understand you. What do you want?” wall added.
Tags in this story
Adam Back, adoption, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Blockchain, bitcoin maximalists, Bitcoin NFTs, block-space, Blockchain, Bored Apes, censorship resistant, Cryptocurrency, cryptographic trading cards, Cypherpunks, DOOM video game file, Dune Analytics, eric wall, Hal Finney , inscriptions, Jimmy Song, JPEG images, Luke Dashjr, Luxor mining pool, Maximalist, mint rate, NFTs, Non-fungible token (NFT), ordinals, proof of consumption, small blocks, Soft Fork, Spam Attack, stupidity, Taproot, Udi Wertheimer, waste, wizard
What are your thoughts on the recent surge of Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain? Are they a positive or negative development for the future of the Bitcoin network? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Jamie Redman
Jamie Redman is the news editor at Bitcoin.com News and a financial technology journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.
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