DeutschBitcoin is being expanded with a new protocol called Ordinals. This allows NFTs to be stored on the oldest crypto blockchain. However, the project is accompanied by a great deal of criticism. Why the non-fungible tokens on BTC are so controversial.
What are Bitcoin Ordinals?
Today, Ordinals is one week into its public alpha phase. The protocol brings NFTs to the Bitcoin mainnet. Casey Rodarmor, who was previously active as a Bitcoin Core developer, is responsible for this.
The principle: Certain Satoshis are assigned certain ordinal numbers by the Ordinals protocol – the so-called ordinals, after which the concept is named. These ordinal numbers then make it possible to attach data to specific Satoshis on the blockchain. One Bitcoin consists of 100 million Satoshis.
NFTs can now also be transferred via the Bitcoin blockchain. A sidechain is not necessary for this. Everything happens via the mainnet. Previously, this function was only known from dedicated smart contract platforms such as Ethereum or Solana. Ordinals calls the function Inscriptions.
Inscriptions that use the Ordinals protocol are fully on the blockchain and do not require a sidechain or a separate token.
It says on the official website of the project. By February 6, 2023, almost 7,000 NFTs had been added to the Bitcoin blockchain in this way. Based on the Ordinals protocol, a new technology called BRC-20 was created in March 2023. These are user-generated tokens that live on the Bitcoin blockchain. The name and most basic functions are based on Ethereum’s ERC-20.
Ordinals: why NFTs on Bitcoin are Controversial
The new protocol is generating completely opposite reactions among Bitcoiners. On the one hand, users are enthusiastic. On the other hand, there is also a lot of criticism and rejection. Why are NFTs on Bitcoin so controversial?
So far, NFTs are mainly popular for depicting works of art. This trend is now also transferring to Bitcoin. Until 2017, there were conflicts among supporters of the largest cryptocurrency, which are now referred to as the Blocksize War. The question arose: Should the Bitcoin block be enlarged or should its data volume of one megabyte be retained?
The Bitcoin Core developers and the majority of the network decided on the smaller block. The opposition split off and formed Bitcoin Cash and later Bitcoin Satoshi Vision.
Now the discussion about the block size is coming up again. In July 2017, the transaction format of Bitcoin was changed with SegWit. Another change took place in late 2021. As a result, the block size of one megabyte can be disregarded. Blocks can be up to four megabytes in size.
Bitcoiners disagree on whether the distribution of NFTs is a reasonable reason to increase blocks to up to four megabytes. There is concern that this could cause the blockchain to grow unnecessarily and prevent inclusion. This danger was actually meant to be averted by a blocksize limit.
Critics include the well-known Bitcoin maximalist Jimmy Song. He writes on Twitter:
Unpopular opinion: If inscriptions inflate the blockchain, a reduction in the block size must be considered.
Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr takes a similar position. He suggests banning Ordinals from the network using a spam filter. Proponents of Ordinals, on the other hand, argue that the ecosystem is able to grow through the new protocol.
Accordingly, there are hopes for a growing number of users through the NFTs. In fact, growth could be mutually dependent. Since summer 2022, the popularity of non-fungible tokens has decreased drastically.
The Largest Bitcoin Block of all Time is Created by Ordinals
Users use Ordinals to store a wide variety of content on the Bitcoin blockchain. The data ends up on over 14,500 nodes worldwide. A project called Taproot Wizards, meanwhile, is having fun expanding the block size as much as possible.
On the night of February 1st to 2nd, 2023, Ordinals created the largest Bitcoin block of all time with a file size of 3.94 megabytes. On April 22, Bitcoin Magazine set a new record.
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In addition to images, there are also other bizarre contents. One user saved a reinterpretation of the video game classic Doom on the blockchain. Although this can be accessed, it cannot be controlled properly.
