Ordinals, a well-known non-fungible token (NFT) protocol based on the Bitcoin blockchain, has achieved a significant milestone by hitting over 10 million inscriptions. This was just a few days after the creator of Ordinals, Casey Rodarmor, announced his resignation from the project. The achievement of over 10 million inscriptions suggests that there have been numerous transactions on the protocol.
Rodarmor tweeted that he has resigned as the primary maintainer of Ordinals since he was not giving it his full attention anymore. He handed over the role to a programmer named Raphjaph. Rodarmor also said that the community's donations will fund the programmer's work on the project.
Bitcoin Ordinals is a protocol that supports transcribing a unique identifier to individual satoshis (SATS) to allow for easy tracking during transactions. Since its introduction in January, the protocol has quickly gained popularity as a means to create new assets on the Bitcoin blockchain. Originally, ordinal numbers were used to "inscribe" data into individual satoshis (the smallest divisible unit of bitcoin).
However, the rapid growth in the number of ordinal inscriptions came with the introduction of the BRC-20 token standard in early March. This new token standard, introduced by a pseudonymous individual named "Domo," enabled users to mint new tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. According to BRC-20.io, the number of Bitcoin-based tokens rose from 100 to 25,000 in the first week of its introduction.
The growth of Ordinals has not been without controversy, as critics in the Bitcoin community have raised concerns about the method of "inscribing" assets into the network. They argue that this approach is "inefficient and wasteful," especially in terms of block space and transaction fees.
In response, alternative developers have explored the use of smart contracts to mint assets and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Bitcoin blockchain. Their goal is to solve the efficiency problems associated with ordinal numbers by using smart contracts.
Despite the controversy, supporters of Ordinals have praised its ability to attract new users to the broader Bitcoin ecosystem. Even prominent anti-Bitcoin advocate Peter Schiff recently minted a small number of NFTs on Bitcoin using the Ordinals protocol.
While the increase in activities related to Ordinals has raised BTC transaction fees, miners have greatly benefited from this increased network engagement. According to Dune Analytics, miners have received over $44 million in fees related to Ordinals transactions.
Overall, Ordinals has played a significant role in expanding the functionality of Bitcoin and promoting the tokenization and creation of assets on the Bitcoin blockchain.
