The Ordinal Loops project is designed to fuel artistic activism and help end fiat through the latest innovation on the Bitcoin blockchain.
This is an opinion editorial by T, a member of the Ordinal Loops team.
It’s been almost a month since Ordinals actually went live and Bitcoin hasn’t been the same since. For some background, this article by Stephan Livera introduces the basics and delves into the technical areas, as well as the political challenges that Ordinals presents. While there are some points of view that can be questioned and assumptions made that cannot be predicted, the article provides a great entry point into the world of data entry.
The early days of building Ordinal were messy, with Bitcoiners spending hours telling people how the protocol works, browsing through ways to run their own nodes, and submitting art. One has to wonder how many orange light bulb moments have occurred recently, but judging by the number of incoming requests and peer-to-peer (P2P) conversations, it has to have been a lot. Regarding the data since the end of January, according to bitnodes.iothe number of Bitcoin nodes has grown by more than 28% and the adoption of Taproot increased to almost 10% with a spectacular boost in the last few days, as shown in glass node. Utilizing the newer soft fork powered by Ordinals has been a huge success and there’s no reason to expect it to slow down.
But, due to the elements of art and creative activism that the Ordinals bring to Bitcoin, there is still a need to view this technological evolution from a different point of view: as a cultural advent in the continued expansion and growth of Bitcoin.
Introduction to ordinal loops
With that, let us introduce you ordinal loops (OL), a review of Bitcoin’s contemporary existence, along with some historical precedents, in the form of 21 low-byte-size, ASCII-format artifacts (or ordinal inscriptions) that guide novice explorers from different streams to understand the fundamental pillars of this important discovery.
At the time of the realization and introduction of the energy that came with the start of Ordinals, the OL team would be remiss if they were not involved in a project of their own aimed at supporting the growth of Bitcoin’s network effects, including their investment budget. security.
Before forming OL, our team focused on organizing Bitcoin meetups and other cultural events, which usually culminated in the creation of art in support of NGOs. Ordinals then offered a new way forward, but also some new challenges due to the huge amount of incoming traffic and interest from people and projects previously unaware of the Bitcoin conceptual framework.
Chapter One: No Fiat
Observing the Loops, chapter one, called “Do Not Fiat”, reflects on one of the central aspects of Bitcoin’s existence: the emergence of a better and more inclusive monetary system. Objects zero through six within this chapter were formed chronologically from the first peaceful intersections to the cataclysm and the last preview of the future where the depicted Bitcoin “vulva” consumes all fiat money. With such a vision, Bitcoin defeats eternal financial oppression and slavery. Such an eternal battle can be observed in a progressive way, directed at the contemporary state of our current existence with great but painful expectations ahead.
These loops were enrolled in the first 500 ordinal enrolments, ensuring that ASCII movements and math magic are reflected in the Bitcoin blockchain. As of this writing, every inscription except “Object 4” has been taken into possession by a new owner through transparent Discord auctions.
Community Considerations
The OL headline list is designed to influence decisions made by the OL team, hoping to drive creative activism towards a new paradigm that has not been explored in other Ordinal projects or through the Bitcoin protocol. But realizing that the artwork in chapter one might not be affordable for everyone, a solution has been proposed in the public discourse surrounding the project: “Object 4” became the first artifact owned by what we call “SATDAO”, consisting of 21 members of the OL community, each with a single key for multi-signature ownership of the given UTXO. Participation in SATDAO remains open and subject to change.
Because the fight against fiat will only succeed if we strengthen our barricades, OL has also continuously financed the Open Sas Legal Defense Fund, Edgehe Bitcoin Policy Institute and Casey Rodarmor 21 Open Dime during your chapter one auction period. Such current activities and holdings are transparently disclosed in the Discord Treasury Channel with the respective transaction hashes included.
Not only is it the best move for new entrants to the orange pill brought on by the excitement around Ordinals, but Ordinals also offers an opportunity to protect and bolster developer resources or experiment with novel forms of community ownership. Digital art has the ability to further this empowering wave of creative activism and deconstruct current narratives.
And, as always, actions speak louder than words:
Chapter Two: Roots of Immutability
Chapter Two from OL intersects with the current period and is meant to allow the observer to step back to Bitcoin’s historical blocks, which have been built on the shoulders of giants.
“Block 0” is a tribute to Satoshi Nakamoto themselves, uniting the fiduciary battle with “The times”, denouncing the breakdown of the current world order. The inscription “Block O” has been sent directly to the genesis address “1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa”, because we are all Nakamoto.
“Block 1” pays homage to the one and only Hal Finney by displaying the hash of the block containing his Nakamoto receiving transaction. The abstract art on this block relates to the emerging impact of ALS, a neurodegenerative disease that negatively affected Finney’s health. The next auction of this Ordinal plans to distribute 58% of the funds received to the ALS Association, promoting this investigation on behalf of Finney’s wife, Fran Finney. It will be announced in the next NFT Paris event to attract broader interest in the Ordinals movement.
“Block 2” represents the block-height hash of Laszlo Hanyecz’s pizza transaction. Since Hanyecz is an advanced GPU miner, it is our adage to extract the change in narratives.
“Block 3” celebrates SegWit, the de-malling of transactions, and the UASF action of the Blocksize Wars, as well as the gateway to the Lightning Network, which has its own shrine in “Block 4.” Next, Taproot finds himself engrossed in the crypto curves of Schnorr signatures as “Block 5 5” raises a glass to the coordinated soft-fork activation deal with the enhancements for a privacy-focused tech stack it brought.
As the weirdest aspect of OL, “Object 6” is the ultimate bow to ordinals, exploring the convulsion of square and round shaped objects complemented by hyper-futuristic synth waves created by c7rr3n7 with an artistic devotion to creating uniqueness, uniqueness in the sense of the opportunity Ordinals has provided.
We invite the reader to consider what Ordinals can do for Bitcoin and to open up the new path ahead. Digital art with digital ecosystems is just the beginning. Bitcoin is freedom.
This is a guest post by T. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
