With the introduction of Ordinals, Bitcoin users have now registered over 45,000 NFTs directly on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Bitcoin is approaching 50,000 signups on the Bitcoin blockchain. Of bitcoin punks to audio fart recordingsthe ability to write data directly to the Bitcoin blockchain has won the community over.
Enrollments, via the Ordinal protocol, allow users to embed data, usually images, directly into the Bitcoin blockchain, effectively enabling Bitcoin NFTs.
The mempool, the collection of Bitcoin blocks waiting to be mined and added to the blockchain, now has filled at the time of this writing as a result of increased block space usage brought on by signups.
Debate has been infuriated regarding the impacts of the introduction of Ordinals on Bitcoin. Mark Goodwin of Bitcoin Magazine posted a short exploration of the potential impacts this project could have.
“Bitcoin is a database with a specific consensus, and there is nothing within the ordinal theory or the inscriptions that violates those rules,” Goodwin writes. “The point is that just because something is a potential use case for bitcoin doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a net good for users of the system. And yet, Bitcoin is a system of rules, not bias, and the arbiter of validity must remain code… The worst action to take would be one that hastily distorted the harsh conditions currently in place. Someone could have just bought each block in perpetuity.”
Zack Voell, Mining Contributor for Bitcoin Magazine, recently explored the potential impact of Ordinals for the future of the bitcoin mining industry specifically, saying: “Ordinals are Bitcoin data records that give miners an idea of which could be the future of Bitcoin MEV… Ordinals offers a glimpse into a future where other Bitcoin users come up with creative reasons to demand the same space, forcing these competing users to find themselves in the market for fees for limited space inside a block.
All in all, the project could have major ramifications on Bitcoin mining and development. But the truth is that enrollments are not slowing down, at least not yet, not in the current fee environment. This could change as the rate market reflects the dynamics of this increased demand for block space, but for now, it appears that we are in a One Way tracking towards millions of registrations on the Bitcoin blockchain.
