Ordinals is a protocol for โinscribingโ things like artwork, profile pictures, and even applications and playable games on the Bitcoinย (BTC) blockchainย tech. It launched in January and quickly became a phenomenon as users etched media onto the blockchain.
Althoughย while some detractors continue to call Ordinals a misuse of the Bitcoinย (BTC) blockchainย tech that should be blocked on the networkโamid growing network congestion and transaction feesโother Bitcoinย (BTC) advocates like MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor call the protocol a โcatalystโ for Bitcoinย (BTC) adoption.
โ Eachย time someone builds an appย thatโs cool on Bitcoin, like all the Ordinals and inscriptions and whatever that are driving up transaction charges, itโs a catalyst,โ Saylor said on the PBD Podcast earlier this month.
Saylor further stated at last weekโs Bitcoinย (BTC) 2023 event that MicroStrategyโthe public company with the largest stockpile of Bitcoinย (BTC) on its balance sheetโis looking into how to use Ordinals to launch applications that run on the blockchain.
Bitcoinย (BTC) Ordinals were already a hot topic after Bitcoinย (BTC) developer Casey Rodamor launched the protocol in January, but it wasnโt instantly clear whether the short-term buzz would hold.
Ordinalsโ popularity surged onceย more after the BRC-20 cryptoย token standard was implemented in March, allowing for the creation of fungible cryptoย tokens (including Memeย Coin tokens) on Bitcoinย (BTC) using the same protocol. Nowadays, daily text-based inscriptions used to mint BRC-20 cryptoย tokens vastly outnumber inscriptions for artwork and other media.
With BRC-20, creative developers began loading the Bitcoinย (BTC) network with Memeย Coin cryptoย tokens that sent theย expense of network transactions skyrocketing. On May 8, the daily charges paid to create Bitcoinย (BTC) Ordinals hit a high of 257 BTC, around $6.7 Million at the time.
โContrary to what you canย potentially see in certain filter bubbles onย Twitterย platform, higher charges on Bitcoinย (BTC) are a very good thing,โ pseudonymous Ord.io founder Leonidas informed Decrypt after the Ordinals tally hit 3 Million. โIt signifies strong demand for Bitcoinโs block space, which is critical for the longstanding success of the protocol.โ
Non-Fungibleย Tokenย (NFT) marketplaces have taken notice of the popularity of Ordinals. In April, Magic Eden added support for Ordinals, with Binanceย Cryptoย exchange adding support to its marketplace in May.
And the boost of Non-Fungibleย Tokenย (NFTs) and Memeย Coin cryptoย tokens via Ordinals has spread beyond Bitcoinย (BTC) too: Ordinals has been ported over to both Litecoin and Dogecoinย (DOGE), which share origins in BTCโs code, leading to surging transactions across those chains as well.
