A project called ordinals has been launched on the Bitcoin blockchain, effectively enabling native Bitcoin on-chain NFTs.
Led by former Bitcoin Core contributor Casey Rodarmor, the protocol is a convention for numbering and transferring individual satoshis on the Bitcoin network.
orderA specific implementation of Ordinals, “it is a wallet and explorer that allows you to track the location of specific satoshis and their ordinal numbers, assigned by the Ordinals protocol, as well as view, create, and transfer inscriptionsthat is, individual satoshis inscribed with arbitrary content,” the press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine states.
The introduction of Ord and inscriptions brings NFTs to Bitcoin, allowing content such as images, videos, and HTML to be included in a Bitcoin transaction and assigned to an individual satoshi.
“Enrollments, which use the ordinal protocol, are fully on-chain and do not require a separate sidechain or token,” the statement read. “Inscriptions inherit the simplicity, immutability, security, and durability of Bitcoin itself.”
Since its launch, the project has sparked a lot of debate about the impact of ordinals and inscriptions on Bitcoin. Ordinals supporters such as Dan Held describe it as a net benefit for Bitcoin, saying“It brings more financial use cases to Bitcoin and drives more demand for block space (aka fees).”
Meanwhile, Ordinals critics like Blockstream CEO and long-time Bitcoiner Adam Back explained that “Bitcoin is designed to be resistant to censorship. This does not prevent us from commenting gently on the sheer waste and stupidity of a coding. At least do something efficient.
The ongoing debate seems to stem from discussions in regards to the potential use of block space and increased bandwidth required to run nodes as a result of enrollments. Regardless of the debate, “the Ordinals project continues without phases,” the press release says, “with contributors continuing to add new features, such as provenance, collections, composability, and a decentralized marketplace.”
Ordinals and inscriptions could prove to be an interesting catalyst for Bitcoiners to re-examine the social dynamics that shape Bitcoin’s development. While the positive or negative impacts of ordinals specifically can be up for debate, the renewed interest in how projects and technical implementations are built in Bitcoin is a healthy sign for the network.
